snowstorm on the yellow sea (OLD VER)
by roulechausettes
Summary: Marie Jones is a twenty-year-old beginner trainer, traveling with her best friend and the rest of her neighbors to train in South Korea for the upcoming Chinese League Championship. However, a sudden storm sends her spiraling into a conflict involving a crazed dictator, a country cut off from the rest of the world, and a propaganda band determined to kill her.
1. Amongst the rubble they danced

**authors note (4/23/17):**

 **hello! as you might have noticed, this was not always the first chapter! the original draft of this was published in september when i had frankly no idea what i was doing, and after finding it nigh impossible to read, i decided to rewrite it! it's the same plot, but with better dialogue, more consistency, and better character development. enjoy!**

 **authors note (9/16/16):**

 **salut. this story is not my first on a fanfiction hosting website, but its the first on here. i actually just finished writing this chapter a few minutes ago, and therefore it was not beta read. forgive me for any spelling errors**

 **this story takes place in our world, with several real life places mentioned or used as locations, however some locations are fake. therefore this story will feature themes such as violence, opression by government, and many other moral issues. if i make them insensitive/fuck it up some how please message me on suggestions and i will fix it.**

 **the title of the chapter is based off of lyrics from the french song "le petit bal perdu (the little lost ball)" by bourvil. the story title is based of a north korean novella about the USS pueblo**

 **please review and fav.**

* * *

The day I started my journey, a massive winter storm came very suddenly from the east, bringing snow, sleet, and hail up to 6 inches in diameter. The news the day before blew it off, saying that it would probably head south to Seattle or possibly Oregon instead of Vancouver and Alexandria islands, due to winds or water formations or some bullshit weather magic from Tornadus or whatever. My dad had smiled at the news and patted my head, telling me that it meant that my journey would be in perfect weather, without any hitches. Of course, it all went wrong, of course it did.

I snorted awake at 4 am to the loud, shrieking two tone bell of the Alert Ready program interrupting the radio playing in my room. I didn't think that the notification would come on the radio, due to the confidence of the news casters that the storm would hit America instead, so I had cranked the volume up to listen to some classical music to ease me into sleep. I covered my ears and gritted my teeth as the bell continued to scream.

" **EVENT TYPE IS BLIZZARD** **.** " The automated male voice who haunted my nightmares screamed. I winced in agony both at how inhuman his voice was and the volume. " **AT 4:12 AM PACIFIC STANDARD TIME, ENVIRONMENT CANADA ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING FOR VANCOUVER AND ALEXANDRIA ISLANDS IN WESTERN BRITISH COLUMBIA, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING CITIES OF SURREY, NANAIMO, VICTORIA, AND ALEXANDRIA. HIGH SNOWFALL AND WINDS ARE FORECASTED IN THESE AREAS. CONDITIONS MAY MAKE TRAVEL DIFFICULT, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE.** "

I blocked out the further instructions by covering my ears with my pillow. I lived in Alexandria! Just my luck, a massive storm on the very day I was supposed to head out to China, where I was going to challenge their newly formed league system, scheduled to open in about two weeks on the 28th. I wondered briefly if Mr. Moreau, our group chaperone, was going to postpone the boat trip to Seoul because of this mess. It'd be inconvenient either way, going in the snow towards the south would be precarious and difficult, but I didn't know what I'd do for the remaining time if he called it off for another date. I'd graduated high school 2 years prior, and I wasn't currently enrolled in university due to my journey. I'd probably just sit at home doing nothing and twiddling my thumbs, like I did during most of the winter, or training my newest pokemon Varaha, a tepig my dad bred from his Emboar who wasn't quite combat ready.

The alert ended with a replay of the two tone bell and then, finally, returned to classical music.

I barely had any time to enjoy the peaceful music before I heard footsteps thumping down the hallway, the wooden floor creaking. My door flung open, and I looked over to see my dad blinking awake. My dad was pretty tall and lanky, with short brown hair and grey glasses perched unevenly on his nose, framing his round, dark eyes. He wore a white t-shirt and blue sweatpants, and was wearing dark slippers.

"What was that?" My dad mumbled sleepily. Herman, his mightyena, slipped through a gap in my doorway, and made a beeline for one of my grey socks that hadn't reached the laundry basket, sniffing at it with his dark nose.

"It was that new 'Alert Ready' program, the one that interrupts TV and radio for important information." I groaned, stretching my arms. Herman grabbed my sock and attempted to dash away with it in his jaws, before my dad caught him and yanked it out. "Apparently the weather people on CBC were wrong about the storm heading south, and now there's a blizzard warning for the entire island."

"Oh…" He said, while throwing my now even dirtier sock into the laundry basket. "Sorry sweetheart. Has Mr. Moreau texted you?"

I reached for my phone, and unplugged it from the charger. There was no messages on the screen, and I had a little flash of hope for my journey. Maybe this was all going to turn out ok, and Mr. Moreau would send me a text telling everyone that it was safe.

"No, not yet." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I got up, wobbling on my two feet for a few seconds. "I'm gonna go make breakfast. I doubt I'm gonna be able to go back to sleep."

"Out of excitement?" My dad asked, a smile growing on his face. He was once a trainer, one of those professional ones who appeared on TV and such. I'd hadn't experienced the aftereffects of his fame, mostly because he was more… revered in America, because that's where he had his journey. It was natural that he'd be excited for me to become a trainer as well.

"Yep." I nodded, and I grabbed three pokeballs from the healing station on my mahogany dresser. My dad smiled walked out of my room, and I heard him walk back into his room. I shut the door, and quickly got changed from my pink t-shirt and neon color gym shorts into dark jeans and a black shirt. I went over to my bag and looked over all my stuff, packed the day before after nagging from my mother. A white cardboard box containing 10 regular pokeballs, 5 potions full of purplish liquid, a few sets of clothes, a few Canadian snacks for when I got homesick, my purse with money in it, _The Handmaiden's Tale_ and my 3DS for when I got bored, and a picture of my parents. Even with all that in there, there was still a lot of room for more stuff to be shoved in, which my dad said was "essential" for a trainer to have.

I released my pokemon one by one, my starter pokemon, a clefairy named Jessica, my first caught pokemon, a nidorina named Nina, and Varaha. Jessica immediately ran for my legs and tugged on my pants, wailing for me to pick her up, which i begrudgingly did, complaining under my breath. Nina blinked sleepily, sniffing the air and looking around my room, walking over to investigate a bookshelf full of novels. Varaha just snorted a hello at me, before poking the door open with his snout and walking into the hallway. I followed him out, Nina close on my heels, and I paused at the window before the stairs, taking a peek at the outdoors. As the Alert Ready had warned, it was snowing pretty intensely, the snow coming down in large sheets of white. I could barely see our backyard, only the vague shape of our red shed towards the back. The high winds blew it so that the snowfall seemed to be going sideways, and the ground was completely covered in it, no grass visible. I frowned nervously, anxious about a possible cancellation. I preferred walking in the heavy snow to not going on my journey. I just sighed and walked downstairs, Jessica babbling all the while.

I walked into the kitchen, white tile and dark wood flooring, with a tiled island and a gas stove and massive stainless steel fridge. I gathered some ingredients together, started a fresh pot of coffee, and cut up some food for my pokemon. After I'd finished making my breakfast of fried eggs and toast, I divided up some sort of makeshift salad for my pokemon. I set out three individual dishes for them, who gobbled it up eagerly. I walked to the living room after they finished, my pokemon hot on my tail, and sat on my red couch and turned the flat screen screen flickered to a posh woman in a purple pantsuit, reading the news out.

"North Korea has condemned what they call 'military provocation' by US and South Korean forces' annual war games drill by the demilitarized zone." The anchor read, and I rolled my eyes and growled in disgust. Jessica crawled up the couch with her stubby little arms, not content to lay on the light hardwood floor like Nina and Varaha. She struggled until she managed to reach the seat, and then mimicked my slouching. "Pyongyang has specifically highlighted the use of pokemon in these drills as being 'unjust and immoral, even for American standards'."

Of course they'd mention pokemon usage. North Korea was the only country left in the world that banned the ownership of pokemon completely, as I learned in my Korean class. It was considered immoral there to view them as anything but livestock or a food source, and the only ones that weren't designated to that fate were exhibited in the zoo in Pyongyang, for people to merely look at. What a shame.

I shoveled my food into my mouth as the news changed from that subject into a new one, with multiple anchors chattering about the unexpected storm, showing some cute video of a recently hatched baby squirtle toddling around and getting into trouble by knocking stuff over, then commericals. I got up between the commercials to clean off my plate and pour myself some coffee, grabbing cream from the fridge and sugar from the pantry. I walked back to the couch to spot Jessica sitting in my spot, and and she looked up at me with a mischievous grin.

"Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. Jessica just giggled, kicking her stubby little feet out. I rolled my eyes and sat next to her, watching some dumb commercial about life insurance.

I watched TV for an hour, checking my phone frequently to look for texts from Mr. Moreau, which never came. Was he going to text us? Was I gonna head out at 6 am to find either a meeting or no one at all? I groaned, rubbing my face with my clammy palms. Everything was so very inconvenient…

Finally, at around 5:10, I got my answer.

 _Mr Moreau: Hello trainers! We will be proceeding with our voyage as usual, despite the weather. However, you will make the trip down to the docks with a preassigned buddy. Here's the list:_

I laughed bitterly, massaging the bridge of my nose. What was I, 8? I scrolled down the list of names, praying silently that I didn't get someone weird or a jerk. Thankfully, I found my name ("Marie Jones") next to the name of my best friend of 9 years, Adel Barret, or 'Addy' as I called him. I sighed, relieved that I was partnered up with the one kid I knew best on the island. The other kids went to the island school, which my mother was not fond of me attending. Instead, I attended a city school in Vancouver, and Addy joined me when he moved here 9 years ago. Unfortunately, the aftereffect of this decision about my education was that I knew literally no one on the island other than my parents, Mr. Moreau (who I knew before this, because my dad traveled with him), Addy, and Addy's parents.

I was shocked out of my thoughts by loud footsteps, marching towards the stairs. I looked over to see my dad walking down, Herman not far behind.

"Mr. Moreau texted me." I said as my dad walked closer to me. "He says that everything is going to go on as scheduled, except we're traveling with a 'buddy' because of the storm now."

"Oh boy." My dad smiled, crossing his arms. "Who's your buddy, then?"

"Addy." I said, and my dad nodded approvingly. He walked into the kitchen to fix up his breakfast, and I returned to watching the news. After 5 minutes, my dad walked back into the living room with a similar breakfast to mine, and sat down next to me.

"So, I bet you're a little nervous, am I right?" My dad asked, slapping a hand on my shoulder. I nodded, cracking a somewhat anxious smile.

"Well don't be!" My dad smiled, whacking me on the back. "You're smart, and good with pokemon! A lot of kids don't have either, you know!" I laughed loudly at that.

"Besides." My dad grinned. "I bet China needs actresses as much as Canada does. If it doesn't work out, you could just star in movies there!"

I smiled and shrugged.

"Thanks, dad." I said. "I'll think I'll make it through my journey through, though."

"You never know!" My dad said. "I thought I was going to be a world-famous champion, but then I met your mother, and now I'm a businessman working in Vancouver. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, young lady!"

"I know, I know." I said, having heard this speech from him multiple times before. "I'll keep my options open." Varaha walked over to my feet and snorted impatiently, and I reached my hand down to pat his head. He closed his eyes and moved in the direction of my hand as I looked at the TV, which now had a cooking show on.

I heard footsteps again, and me and my dad glanced over to see my mother descending the stairs. Her dark hair was in a messy bun, random strands of hair framing her oval face, blinking at us with dark round eyes that pointed up at the corners. She wore a navy blue hoodie and black sweatpants, and walked down the stairs barefoot.

"Morning." I greeted her.

"Mornin'." She greeted sleepily, walking towards the kitchen. My dad and Herman quickly followed her, and so I was left alone again. A few moments later, I heard a series of loud metallic crashing noises, and Jessica and I jumped to our feet.

"Everything okay in there?" I yelled, walking towards the kitchen. One of the pans was on the floor, and my mother was scolding Herman, who was panting and wagging his tail.

"Herman scared your mother." My dad explained. I giggled at it briefly, before my mother walked over to me. She enveloped me in her arms, swaying side to side somewhat.

"My little girl… all grown up…" My mother sighed, very close to tears, and I rubbed her back softly. "I can't believe you're gonna be going on your journey in an hour…"

"I can't either." I said. My mother hugged me tighter, and then separated from me. She ruffled my hair softly.

A few minutes later we were all back in the living room. I'd brought down my bag after my mother told me to bring it down. We were all watching a stupid show about home renovations until we heard a knock at the door. My dad got up to answer it, and I retrieved all my pokemon in case Addy had arrived. All I heard at first was the roaring of the winds, and I saw snow flying through the door.

"HEY!" My dad shouted to me. "GET YOUR COAT, ADDY'S HERE!"

I rushed to grab my puffy green coat with the furred hood, and tied up my dark brown hiking boots. I ended up slipping on dark gloves and putting on a white scarf and a black hat. I walked over to my mother after I finished dressing up, and she stood up and embraced me again, and I heard her breathe out shakily, and my stomach fell.

"Make us proud out there, okay sweetie?" She asked, and I nodded. She moved the dark bangs from my eyes and kissed me on the forehead, before ushering me off to my father after handing me my backpack.

My dad wrapped his arms around me and held me tight to him, thwacking my back hard multiple times. After the hug, he put his hand on my shoulder tightly, and looked me over with a gigantic grin.

"You'll do great out there, Marie." My dad said, and I smiled back, trying my best not to cry. It was hard not to, my eyes were itching painfully and my throat was constricted with anxiety. "Just make sure to call, okay?"

"Okay." I smiled, and waved as I walked outside, shutting the door behind me. Immediately I was attacked by winds blowing at high speeds, bringing snow directly into my face. The deep forest that surrounded the island stood above me with its large pine trees bending with the weight of the snow, dark from the lack of light. Addy was somewhat visible with his ketchup red coat peeking through the storm. His hood was tightened around his face, to the point where the only thing visible was his dark hair and the tip of his tan nose.

"What's up, dude?" I shouted over the wind, hoping he could hear me.

"Nothing much!" Addy screamed with his California drawl. He began to walk south, towards the docks, and I followed eagerly. "Some storm this is, huh?"

"Yeah!" I shouted back, gingerly stepping down some steps. I could see the town center close by, a stone covered avenue full of shops and gardens in the summer. Now, everything was covered up by the all consuming white of the storm. "Guess the weather people really lied to us this time!" Addy laughed.

"So," I asked, after we had passed by the town center and headed deep into the woods, guided by the footprints of students who'd already made the journey. "You planning on doing a contest or something like that when we reach Seoul?" Addy wasn't very into battling pokemon, instead he had always been interested in performing in contests or movies, but mostly movies. We probably had no less than 100 videos of us as kids making stupid little movies. My mom definitely has at least 25 of those tapes

"Dunno." He shrugged. "Are you thinking about challenging the gyms there?"

"Maybe. Probably just one or two badges though, we don't have enough time for all 8."

"Yeah, I think you should relax a little in Seoul…" Addy smiles. "The hard stuff's gonna be in China. Might get an acting gig there."

"I think they'll choose you because of your California accent." I joked, and Addy rolled his eyes. "Makes you look posh and shit."

"What about your Canadian one, huh?" Addy teased. "Makes you sound like you came from 'Trailer Park Boys'." I rolled my eyes.

"I told you that you'd get preferred because of your accent, and you make fun of mine?" I said in mock offense, holding my hand to my chest. "I was trying to be nice!"

"Well, maybe if you complimented my hair or my eyes…"

"Fine. Your hair is wonderful and you're perfect for movies." I sighed. "Now you've reached a full complement. Happy?"

Addy nodded, and we mostly kept silent as we climbed down the rocky hill towards the dock, which was barely visible in the distance. There was dark railings on the side, and I held onto them with white knuckles as I lowered myself down. I knew this was going to happen as soon as that two tone bell rang for the Alert Ready alarm. I knew that it was going to be nigh impossible to get my way down towards the docks. What if there's ice on the dock? I shuddered at the thought of slipping on the ice down there and breaking something in my body before my journey.

After a precarious journey down, we managed to get our way down to the dock with a few close calls of mostly me slipping before managing to catch myself. The concrete dock was mostly covered with snow, and the grey waves slammed against the shore violently. The boat we were going to travel in was towards the end of the dock, massive, imposing, and mostly blending into the white with it's light grey color. I wobbled towards the boat, Addy waddling behind me. I thought about my journey as I walked forward, how it was going to go. I doubt the snowstorm meant anything, some sort of curse that damned me to have an awful journey. I didn't believe in any of that stupid superstitious stuff. I was gonna have a good journey, and everything was gonna smooth itself out shortly.

Of course, I was utterly, completely wrong.

The snowstorm was just the beginning

* * *

 **marie jones' team**

 **varaha (named after the hindu boar diety) M, nina (simone) nidorina F, jessica (jung) clefairy F**

 **anyway please review this, criticism is great and helps me improve, but like saying some dumb shit like "why isnt this in the pokemon universe!?" or calling marie a mary sue without evidence doesnt count. all reviews basically mean that there's an audience and makes me write faster.**

 **au plus tard**


	2. Every set of light up here is watching

**authors note**

 **salut. this chapter is kind of short, but its moving the plot along, so i hope you'll forgive me for it**

 **anyway, as mentioned before, this story is going to be very very dark, and deal with some heavy stuff**

 **chapter title comes from cloud of unknowing by gorillaz (rip bobby womack)**

 **please review and fav! this keeps me going, and anything (other than blatant bullshit) keeps me going as a writer**

 **enjoy**

* * *

Nothing bad happened immediately. The boat didn't catch on fire the instant I got on, there wasn't any sudden rocking, and I wasn't informed that there was a serious mistake, and that I would have to return home. I merely walked onto the boat, into a large lobby, with green plush chairs facing towards the large windows in front, and what appeared to be a kiosk towards the back, with a fridge and a menu I didn't bother to read. I had my name checked off by the captain, who knew me from years of shipping me off to school, and smiled at me, and I walked through the green colored hallways to my cabin to put my stuff down or maybe nap a little. My cabin wasn't terribly huge, having a small bed, a chair, and a dresser with an Aero candy bar and a Coke on top, presumably for me. I smiled a little, amused that the captain remembered my favorite soda and candy, and put them in my bag.

After I settled down, I walked over to my bed, and laid down for a nap. To my surprise, the bed wasn't too small, and I wasn't too excited about my immedinant journey to almost immediately fall straight to sleep when I put my head on my pillow. I told myself that it would be a small nap, and I'd be up and about at 7:30 to meet everyone that I never had the chance to in Alexandria, and maybe sneak a snack from my bag for my pokemon so they wouldn't be ravenous before dinner.

Instead of waking up well rested and excited, I woke up disorientated, hungry, and confused to where I was. I took a few seconds to remind myself that nothing bad had happened, and I wasn't kidnapped by someone. I stood up, wobbled a bit, and walked out in the halls to the front of the boat, and saw that the sun was just beginning to set. I dashed to the dining hall, and bumped into Addy, who was dressed down so that his wavy dark hair was visible, and holding Bunie in his arms, who was clutching onto her maroon shirt.

"Woah, watch it!" Addy shouted, and I grabbed him by his shoulders, and he visibly flinched, looking wide eyed at me. Bunie merely glowered at me between her big fluffy tan ears, having never gotten along with me no matter how hard I tried.

"What time is it?" I spluttered out.

"It's 6 at night, we're literally about to eat dinner." Addy replied, brows furrowed. "I was gonna get you for dinner- are you alright?" I slumped forward, and held my head in my hands.

"I overslept." I groaned, and Addy let out a chuckle at that.

"I figured. If there's anyone who can literally sleep through the excitement of going to a new country, it's you." Addy snorted, and I looked up to scowl at him. "Remember when you were late to graduation because you were up playing video games all night?"

"Point me in the direction of where I asked." I snapped back, and Addy smiled at me.

"Ugh… now all my pokemon are going to be hungry, and Jessica's probably going to go straight for my ankles." I groaned, and I walked away to face the music.

After corralling 3 hungry and grumpy pokemon to the dining hall, which took a good 10 minutes of trying to avoid having my ankles and fingers bit by both Jessica and Varaha. The dining hall was a surprisingly rich looking place, with red cloth embroidered wooden chairs, dark wood tables with bright red and gold tablecloths, and red carpet, but steel serving stations, a reminder that this was still a boat, and not some room in a mansion. I got food for me, and grabbed some tomatoes and an apple for Nina, who was behaving herself this evening, and not trying to gnaw one of my fingers off. I walked over to the table where Addy was sitting, surrounded by his pokemon. The instant I walked over to him, Bunie, who was standing on the table, eating her greens voraciously, she narrowed her eyes and jumped into Addy's arms. I shrugged my shoulders in acceptance, and sat down, putting my pokemon's food on the ground, finally letting them chow down.

"She is literally never going to like me." I groaned, digging into the chicken parm I got. "Ever."

"Well, honestly, Jessica hates me, so it's only fair." Addy gestured with his sauce covered fork to Jessica, who was glaring back at Bunie, while eating her Frosted Flakes.

"She doesn't like anyone, other than like my parents, Nina, and the cashier at Costco who gets her Frosted Flakes! Bunie loves literally every other person she meets except for me!" I said, and only got a shrug in response from Addy.

We spent the remainder of our meal discussing things about the journey, like which restaurants to visit in South Korea and of things to do there. Addy seemed intent on trying Bunie out in a movie there, having always preferred contests (mainly held in Japan, Los Angeles, Beijing and New York City) and acting to battling, which I agreed with. Even though the little rodent could be a real pain, she still had a lot of potential to be a star, and even had the sob backstory of being bought in an orphanage for only 40 dollars. After an hour of talking, in which the sun dipped under the waves, leaving the windows pitch black, and eating some dessert, we both retired to our cabins for the night, where I fell asleep again, but only after an hour of playing video games on a 3DS.

The two and a half days after my first day were almost identical. I played games and went out to the deck of the boat in the early morning, before going to breakfast, having some pancakes and feeding my pokemon. I would then talk to Addy about little things over coffee, and then take a nap until lunch, eat lunch with my pokemon, and then read or sleep until dinner. I'd eat dinner, call my parents, and then sleep again. It was pretty monotonous, but it was leading up to one of the biggest moments of my grown life, so I didn't mind.

Finally, after those two and a half days were up, on a surprisingly calm day, our real journey began. After dinner, we were told by Mr. Moreau, who had accompanied us on the boat, to pack up our stuff in our cabins, put on clothes you wouldn't mind sleeping in, and head to the hold. I eagerly put everything away, including several more things of sweets that I bought from the kiosk in the front of the boat. After I gathered all my things together, I took one last look at my cabin, before I went to the hold. The hold was a large metal room in the bottom of the boat, with notches in the floor to allow the boats to go down into the Yellow Sea, in the hull, with 12 lifeboats attached to a machine to lower them into the water, for each of the 12 kids. Releasing boats with the travelers on then was a tradition as old as the voyage itself, because in old times it was practically required to take a boat anywhere, despite being unnecessary and very unsafe. Even my father, who could've just taken a train down, took a boat to California instead. It was odd tradition sure, but it was still _a tradition_ , and it meant a lot to the community. We were informed of what to do when we arrived in South Korea, which was to basically go to the nearest town and take a train to Seoul to have your passport stamped, then continue. Another kid brought up what to do if they somehow ended up in North Korea.

Mr. Moreau frowned, and looked thoughtful for a second. Then, he replied:

"Try going to the British Embassy, and calling Ottawa, and say that there's been a horrible mistake." Mr, Moreau said, and quickly, his voice became stern. "However, let's try our best to avoid landing in North Korea at all costs, because we can't guarantee your safety there."

The other 11 kids and I were lead off to our boats by Mr. Moreau, with Addy taking the 3rd boat on the left and me taking the fifth on the right, I waved to him as I passed, and he waved back at me. Now that the boat was closer to me, I could see that it was just a larger than normal, but otherwise a normal metal skipper, with a large "5" and "CANADA" written on it, albeit with no motor. Inside was a tied down sleeping bag, and a large bolted container for my bag. I looked around to see other kids putting their stuff away, laying down in the sleeping bag, and then Mr. Moreau would walk over and pull a breathable tarp over the boat. I put my bag in the container, took off my shoes and put them in too, and pressed my hands hard on the lid to make sure it was tight. I stepped precariously into the boat, and I slid into the sleeping bag, and waited for Mr. Moreau to put the tarp over me. I was already sweating from excitement, and it felt like hours until I heard him approach.

"Are you ready, Ms. Jones?" He asked, looking down at me with a smile.

"Yes, sir." I nodded.

With that, he pulled over the tarp, and I only saw dark blue. In a few minutes, I was asleep. I have no idea what happened after I was asleep, because I did not wake a single time during my voyage. I've guessed that a stray wave flung me off course, or a sudden storm broke out. I have no idea how I wasn't stopped, or shelled to oblivion by the forces by the DMZ. Whatever happened, it moved my boat far away from where it was supposed to go. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was luck. Maybe some dumbass forgot to go to their post that evening. Whatever happened, it happened.

I actually remembered my dream that night, too.

I was alone, traveling a distant path by foot, walking a long distance, far away from what I knew. I saw a river distantly in the horizon, and I walked closer to it, trying to get to it. When I reached the river, I found that it was a wild thing, churning and rushing past me, crashing against rocks and whipping around the corner. I watched it run past me, unsure of what I should do, or how I should pass it. As I contemplated how to make it over the river, I saw something move in the river's path. I looked closer, and I managed to make out what it was.

It was a woman, dead, face crumpled in pain, and that's all I could make out before it disappeared. Suddenly, I saw more bodies in the river, men, women, children. All of them had drowned trying to cross. Naturally, that made me afraid, reluctant to proceed further, but my body started to step on the rocks to cross without my consent, and I tripped against one of them and fell, fell!

I woke up with a jolt to the sound of waves crashing against the hull of the boat, and I slipped out of my sleeping bag, quickly checked that all of my stuff had made the journey, and put slight pressure on the bottom, to see if I was on land or not. I heard a slight but noticeable scratching noise against the metal bottom, and I peeked out of the tarp. I was on a wide beach, close to shore, with grey sand, clear water, and blue skies. I slid from an opening in the tarp, and crawled on my hands and knees, feeling the wet sand dig into my palms, until I managed to stand up using the boat, and I noted that the tarp was wet. I pushed the boat further on the beach, to prevent it from getting washed away.

Looking around, I managed to see a large forest right in front of me, with thick trees that had lost the leaves, and I managed to spot a sign and a road not far ahead. I hobbled forward, and approached a large wooden sign at the beginning of the beach, written in Korean, confirming that I did not end up in China. It gave the name of the beach, Nampo Beach, and I read nothing more, which was a huge mistake. I walked onto the dirt road, watching out for any vehicles. I walked forward on the gritty dirt road, trying to ignore the pain in my bare soles.

I walked a decent stretch up the road before I caught a glimpse of a gigantic red, blue, and white sign, written entirely in Korean. I squinted at it slightly, and walked around so I wasn't reading it at an angle.

The sign read:

"GLORY TO THE ETERNAL PRESIDENT, KIM IL SUNG!"

I stared dumbly at it for about 5 minutes, craning my neck slightly, before it all came onto me, and I felt my blood run cold, and I began to feel sick.

Stupid, my brain screamed as I ran down the road as fast as I could, back to the boat, stupid, STUPID!

* * *

 **ok so that's that**

 **notes (a section dedicated to stuff people might not know about north korea that is pretty important to this story, because a lot of what people believe is either bullshit satire passed off as "real things north koreans believe" or is bare bones at best)**

 **-nampo is a designated "special city" off of the coast of the Korean Bay, mostly known for fish and grain production. before WW2, it was a meager village, but after soviet occupation, and after the Korean War (very likely) it became an actual city. its mostly known for its beaches and apparently some tombs**

 **-kim il sung (1912-1994) was the first leader of North Korea, with 3 million bullshit titles that i am not going to list out, but the most notable is 'Eternal President' which makes North Korea the only necrocracy in the world. the government would like you to believe that in the 1930's kim was out there fighting the good fight against the japanese in a "secret base" on Mount Paektu, but in all actuality he was probably running the thing from a village in Soviet Russia, living with his wife. some people even think that he was imposter, taking the name from an actual resistance fight like the dirty fuck he was. however, its probably absolute shit. he was put in his place as ruler of the Korean Communist Party by the soviets when they took the north part of Korea from the Japanese, who had occupied it since 1910. from 1940-1991 North Korea was actually doing pretty well, other than the fact you were living under a personality cult, a lot better than the South, which was suffering from economic crisises and the fact that from 1961 to 1979, South Korea was also run by a dictator Park Chun-Hee (who's daughter is now the president, and is also being criticized for corruption). however, in 1991, the Soviet Union collasped into ruins, and therefore took all the trade North Korea was receiving, which was mostly keeping the country stable, causing food production to go down. flooding and droughts did not help, and soon North Korea was in the midst of a gigantic famine. there is no exact number of how many people died in the famine, somewhere between 240,000 thousand and 3 million people. Kim died soon afterwards of a unkown natural cause, leaving his son to lead. he is survived by his fucking massive personality cult, mostly cultivated by his son.**

 **anyway i'll probably do an oc contest later because for the next few chapters it will likely not matter, because marie will not encounter a lot of trainers for the entire North Korea arc.**

 **i did a ridiciolus amount of studying for this, which required watching 5 minutes of the weirdest movie ive ever seen, and still i'm probably going to have to bullshit some shit about north korea (specifically towns towards the north) because of how little is known (thanks kim il sung)**

 **marie jones' team**

 **varaha, tepig M - jessica, clefairy F - nina - nidorina - F**

 **again please review and fav, it means a whole lot to me if you do**

 **au revoir**


	3. I am drowning, there is no sign of land

**authors note:**

 **salut. it's looking like at my current rate this story will update weekly which might violently change due to independent circumstances beyond my control, such as papers, work, and my current head cold.**

 **chapter title is from no children - the mountain goats (on a moral orel binge)**

 **anyway please fav and review it keeps me goin**

* * *

Thankfully, by the time I reached the beach, with aching, dirty feet, no soldier had suddenly arrived to inspect it, probably because it was the middle of winter, and no one would be by the water if you weren't crazy or trying to die.

I quickly rushed to pull off the tarp cover, and flung it on the sand. I quickly tore off the cover of the container, grabbing my hiking boots and socks, quickly putting them on. I grabbed my backpack and quickly checked for my pokemon, and breathed a sigh of relief when i found their pokeballs unharmed. I crawled in the boat, and reached for another large box wedged in the very tip of the boat. I managed to slide it free, while also ripping my sleeping bag out of the boat, and I eagerly opened the box.

The box contained emergency biscuit rations, matches, tinder, a first aid kit, a Swiss Army knife, what appeared to be a large space blanket, three tins of water purification tablets, some canned food, a flare gun, fishing kit, other things that had absolutely no value to me, and an actual, disassembled pistol, mostly black but with a brown grip, with live ammunition close by. I stared at that pistol for a minute, feeling mixed emotions of shock and confusion at the fact there was a _real gun_ stocked in my boat. I tried to muster up memories of when my American uncle took me out to a shooting range to show me how to shoot a gun, and then promptly got yelled at by both my mom and grandma at the same time, but I couldn't remember how to reassemble it for the life of me, only how to shoot. Thanks a lot, Uncle Rich.

After another minute of staring at the disassembled weapon, I managed to reassemble it without killing myself, and clicked the safety off, and kept it nearby. I grabbed the emergency box, and stuffed it in my bag, before grabbing a change of clothes, which was a long sleeved dark shirt, dark pants, and my jacket from before, and flung the tarp over me and changed clothes. I packed my clothes, the emergency box, my sleeping bag, curled up into a ball and the tarp, also rolled up. I sat down on the beach, and tried to think of something, anything, that could help me. I remembered what Mr. Moreau said, about going to the British embassy in Pyongyang. Pyongyang could be anywhere from barely a day's walk to nearly a week away. I'd have to walk for a long time, with potential contraband on my shoulders. However, I knew I had to do one thing before I went anywhere.

I looked back at the boat, looking for those distinctive red letters. Before I did anything, I pulled out my camera, a gift from my mother to chronicle my journey, from my bag, and took a picture of the boat, to preserve it in case anyone said I was a liar. I put my bag down, pulled the pocket knife, and started to chip away at the "C" in "CANADA", until the "C" came off. It took a long time to remove all the letters, but it was worth not getting my home country tangled in North-South Korean political nonsense in the end. After I removed the letters, I pushed the boat out into the ocean, and watched as it floated away, until it was out of sight. Now with the fear of accidentally starting World War 3 because of a single mistake off of my shoulders, I picked up the gun laying in the sand, and began my trek north.

Even for someone who lived on the coast of Canada, where the summers were always chilly at best and the winters were nearly unbearable, North Korean winters were pretty cold, even barring the fact that I was right by the ocean, making it even colder. After trekking past the sign from before, I found myself blowing on my hands to keep warm. When I reached a small clearing a few meters away, I sat down and pulled out my pokeballs and some biscuits from the box. I sat cross legged on the dead grass, took a deep breath in, and released my pokemon, who simply sat and stared at the food that I gave them. Varaha even seemed uneager to eat, for the first time ever, and Nina looked straight at me, unflinching.

"This is all we have for now." I said over the cacophony of growls and indignant squeaking from Jessica, who looked ready to bite my hand off. "Let's eat."

"Eat it, Jessica." I said, pushing the biscuit towards her, causing her to turn away. I felt my throat constrict, and I swallowed. I'm not going to lose it right now, I'm going to be calm and collected, and think this all through logically.

"Please." I begged, but none of them ate, merely staring at me if I had lost my mind. I swallow again, don't lose it, don't lose it, you are calm, don't lose it, don't-

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm lost in a dangerous country, and I can't just parade you around here!" I snapped, and the pokemon stopped. I rarely raised my voice at them, not wanting to be like the trainers in my school who screamed at their pokemon at high volumes after losing. "I don't know how long it'll be until I can buy us food, and I don't know when we'll be where we're supposed to be! Just eat the biscuits, please?"

Nina was the first to reluctantly eat the biscuits, and the two other ones soon followed. I decided to eat the biscuits too, because I hadn't had any breakfast either, and I needed to eat something before I walked. The biscuits were small, white little things, and one bite yielded a stale, rancid taste, and I wondered how old these biscuits were. I pressed forward, and was able to down two before nausea prevented me from eating anything more. My pokemon had finished before me, and were watching me as I coughed, covering my mouth as I did.

"I'm sorry for yelling." I said quietly, shoving the biscuits back in the backpack. "I'll get you all something nice when we get to the city. Some nice apples for Nina, some toast for Varaha, and some sweets for Jessica." I let them back into their pokeballs, and I sighed, wiped my eyes, and continued forth.

After about 10 whole minutes of walking, I spotted the city ahead, and I moved slightly faster, but not in a full dash, to avoid attention if someone walked by. As I climbed the hill, I looked around for some form of crowd to blend into, but I ended up just trying to make myself as small as possible while crossing the road. stuffed my firearm in my pocket, and walked through the city.

If I had stayed behind and looked for crowds, I would've been standing in that spot forever, because, as I found out walking through the run down city of "Nampo", there are apparently never any crowds in North Korea, or maybe just Nampo. There were men on bikes, passing me by, groups of women chatting with each other about what movies were on TV, children, or food, children running around, and stopping to look at me with an odd expression on their faces, but no crowds of people. I stared right back, and they ran away from me, quickly looking back at me. I snorted quietly to myself, but almost immediately regretted it. What if they snitched to their parents about the "weird girl with the backpack" who stared at them, and I hadn't left the city yet? What if their parents snitched to the police, and I had the army tailing me? I could see the headlines now, "Canadian Spy Executed, Death to Trudeau and the West!". I shook it off, blaming my paranoia for making me irrational. I needed to stay rational, stay calm, so I didn't mess up and end up executed in a horrible manner.

As I followed the road, which had no cars on it for whatever reason (probably why so many people were biking), I passed through an open air market on the walkway, filled with stalls with meats, fish, street food for the commuters, and produce. I went over to the produce stand, and bought some lettuce, and a couple of tomatoes for Nina, and the rest of the pokemon, and grabbed the yuan I had exchanged a few days before. The older gentleman, with his thin frame and tired eyes looked at me, shrugged, and took the money, and bagged my produce.

"Thank you, comrade." I said, with a fake smile, and left as quickly as possible without looking overtly suspect. I felt eyes turning to me with an offended look in their eyes, probably because of my accent or something, crawling all over my back, and I moved faster, trying to outrun them. I managed to free myself of them, shaking my head lightly. I hated this place, I hated being looked at with suspicious eyes, my mind scream hysterically, I want to go home! Calm, I told myself, stay calm, being irrational will be the end of you. Kim Jong-un doesn't care if you're innocent and scared out of your mind, he only cares that you're Canadian, that you have contraband on you, and how many things he can get you to confess to under torture. So stay calm, I repeated, being calm will get you out of here.

Soon, after repeating my "stay calm" mantra 3 more times as 3 more people stared at me, eating a snack made up of rice, rolled up in seaweed, that vaguely resembled a dish I frequently saw people in Koreatown in Vancouver eating, which I bought, and procuring a English-language map from the trash, the city of Nampo was behind me, and I was facing the "Youth Heroes' Highway" (which garnered a quiet snort from me), which, according to the map, was one of the main paths to Pyongyang. I'd have to walk on it for a indeterminate period of time, and dive into the woods whenever I saw a car pass by. I sighed quietly, and walked towards it, darting to the shoulder, where I was less likely to get hit or spotted by someone.

Surprisingly, throughout my 3 hour journey, I only had to dive off of the road one time. It was when I was halfway to Pyongyang, and I was listening to music as I walked, with one earbud in, one out. I was humming along to a Chinese song that my mom used to sing to me, before I suddenly heard the deep roar of an engine, and I jumped from the shoulder and I rolled down the grassy hill before I caught myself, feeling and hearing the contents of my bag rolling about. The rickety, white truck filled with soldiers roared past, not noticing the girl who flung herself off of the road. Other than that close call with capture, I managed to make it to Pyongyang without getting run over or spotted by the North Korean military, which caused me to walk through the woods to avoid a checkpoint populated by two soldiers, until I reached the sidewalks of Pyongyang. By the time I reached Pyongyang, the sun was setting, and there were actual lights in the skyline, instead of darkness, which was what I honestly expected.

Pyongyang isn't a stunning, commercial center city like New York City or Toronto is, and isn't a government city populated by monuments and history like Washington D.C. or Ottawa, it's somewhere in between, straddling the line between the two. There are tall skyscrapers climbing up to the sky like streamers in a parade, actual crowds (small) of people walking about, actual buses driving past, a bit old and rusted, but still buses none the less, and what appeared to be train stations, and then there are large monuments to "Sogun ideals" scattered around. It was like, after the Korean War, Kim Il-Sung didn't know what city he wanted, New York or D.C., or fought with his personal architect over plans before executing him and his family in a stadium as hundreds of people watched. Basically, Pyongyang was a mess.

But wherever I went in Pyongyang, I was always followed by the gaze of the chubby smiling face of either the graying Kim Il-Sung, or the pompadour of his son, Kim Jong-Il, and their ridiculous slogans. Their faces were plastered literally everywhere, monuments, storefronts, murals, all covered with their faces, looking down at their citizens, or in some cases, leading a gaggle of soldiers, somehow providing leadership by smiling and pointing. At least in Ottawa, I didn't see gigantic pictures of Justin Trudeau staring down at me, proclaiming to me that I should work to show glory to him, or bronze statues of Obama leading people to victory in Washington D.C. Anyway, any chance I got, I took pictures of my surroundings, and hid my camera in my coat when I passed by a soldier, who would almost always stare at me. Pyongyang was positively teeming with them, and I found myself in a constant state of anxiety, monitoring myself for any signs of suspicious or 'western' behavior. I watched the kids my age interact, and I began to imitate them, which seemed to garner me less stares.

After a little wandering, I found myself in front of the British Embassy, which wasnt just British, but German and Swedish, and I walked towards it with a smile, rehearsing the speech that I would give the person working the counter. The speech would go smoething like "Help my boat washed up on North Korean territory and I had no intention of going here to spy or overthrow the Kim dynasty please just drop me off in Macau I'll be fine there". I was only a few strides away from freedom, and seeing my family again. However, as I walked forwards towards the embassy, my smile dropped off my face. On the front of the embassy compound, there was a massive sign written in both German, Swedish, French, and English. The sign read:

"ABSOLUTELY NO CONTRABAND IN OR OUT OF EMBASSY BUILDINGS.

VIOLATERS WILL BE IMPRISONED"

I was screwed. Absolutely screwed. If I entered that embassy, I would have my bag searched, my pokemon would be found, and I would be almost immediately thrown to the government to do whatever they pleased with me. I'd have to stay in North Korea until I could find some tourist group to blend in with to take me home. But that could take days, month, years! What if they test missiles or nuclear bombs again? What if I'm trapped in the next Korean War? What if I'm framed for passing out religious documents. What if I live here for the rest of my god forsaken life, and I marry some dude, have his kids, and watch as they're permantly indoctrined into the North Korean personality cult?

Hey, my logic asked, can't you just cross the border into China?

That's it! China! I already had a visa to train there, so it technically wasn't illegal. I could just walk all the way up the border, camp out for a few days, and then end up in Beijing like nothing ever happened. I'd have to stay in Pyongyang for about a day to look for extra supplies, but it's still worth a shot! All I had to do now, was to find somewhere to stay for the night

I walked around, trying to scope out a place to sleep for the night or feed my pokemon, that wouldn't lead me to get caught, before my feet lead to me to a large amusement park, with bright lights and screaming people. The sign at the front read "Runga People's Pleasure Park", which was a pretty interesting name for an amusement park, I guess. Maybe there were some worker's quaters that were unoccupied, so that I could sleep a little tonight. I tried to get into the gates, but I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned to make direct eye contact with a soldier, causing my blood to turn cold. He was about my age, potentially younger, with a scrawny build, tan skin, short height only reaching to my mouth, and an uniform bigger than him, his eyes peeking out of his hat with a glare.

"What are you doing?" The soldier asked firmly, and I quickly jumbled a bunch of excuses from my head, hoping to get one good one.

"I'm going to get my aunt from the amusement park, comrade." I stated, and instead of just leaving me alone to find somewhere to sleep, he simply just stared at me, eyes boring into my skull, like he could see every single scared thought.

"Are you a foreigner?" He asked, and I froze for about a minute. Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down. Just be calm, be collected, respond coolly, and this will all be over, and maybe you'll have something nice for dinner.

"N-no…" I responded quietly, and then internally screamed at myself for stuttering. I'm doomed, doomed, doomed, doomed! I quickly darted my head around, looking for the quickest escape route. The soldier looked at me with squinted eyes, peering over every inch of me.

"You speak pretty weird for someone who lives here." He replied, and I began to shake. I thought of my parents, how devastated they would be that their only daughter accidentally landed in North Korea and was executed due to circumstance. I closed my eyes, and tried to think of some excuse.

"I uhhh…. emigrated from Macau a few years ago!" I said, forcing myself to smile. He stared at me, with a unimpressed look in his eyes. Macau was where my grandmother lived before she left to America in the 80s, after a job offer forced her to move, so I wasn't too far off.

"Come with me." The soldier said, grabbing my shoulder, and I reluctantly followed as he led me through the streets of Pyongyang, as people, men, women, families looked away from us. They knew that I was being led away to my death, and didn't want to associated themselves with me, so they wouldn't die too. They had family to feed, and couldn't be bothered with a girl who had obviously done wrong. By the time we reached the park, and he lifted his hand from my shoulder, I was violently sobbing and shaking with every breath. I watched as he removed his hat, revealing his shaved head, and I only cried more.

"Do you know about Pokemon Trainers?" He asked me, and I nodded through my tears. I was ready for him to shoot me in the face, or break my neck, but he didn't. All he did, was reach into his jacket pocket, and hand me a worn color photograph.

"Do you know this man?" He pointed to one of the two young men in the picture, which was of a pokemon battle. The man he pointed to was a younger version of my dad, battling the Miami gym, the final gym of the American League, battling the leader with his Emboar. I stared at it in awe for a while, having been confused enough to stop crying.

"How'd you get this picture?" I asked him, handing back the photograph.

"My friend's older brother got them off of the black market when we were kids." He replied, scratching his face, and I was shocked by the revelation that pictures of my dad were on the North Korean black market. "I always thought this one was the coolest out of all the ones he got, and he gave it to me before I went to the army. I don't know, I just always thought that Pokemon Trainers were cool, even though the imperialists used them against us." I raised my eyebrows at that line, but ignored it.

"He's my dad." I replied, and the soldier looked up at me in shock.

"He's your _dad?_ " He repeated, and I nodded, sitting down. A wide grin grew on his face, and that was when I gained a little bit of confidence that I wasn't going to get shot or executed.

"This is so cool! I never thought this could happen!" He shook my shoulders excitedly, and a small smile grew on my face. "But, if you're his daughter, how'd you end up over here? Isn't he American? And you two don't look that much alike!"

I explained my predicament to the soldier, and showed him some pictures of my dad on my phone. He seemed genuinely amazed, and not faking it to lure me into a trap. I mean, it would be a pretty intricate plot to get me if he already had a picture of my dad on him, so I shrugged it off.

"So, you came to Pyongyang to try to return home by going to the embassy?" He asked me, and I nodded, putting my phone back in my bag.

"Honestly, I doubt it's going to work." I said sadly, and sighed. "I have contraband on me. I doubt they're gonna let me through, just hold me hostage or execute me. I think I'm just gonna end up like, going across the Chinese border."

"Contraband?" The soldier asked, and I pulled out a pokeball, causing his face to light up again.

"You have pokeballs?" He asked, walking over to me. "Do you have any pokemon?"

I let Nina, Varaha, and Jessica out, and grabbed the bag full of produce, placing it out on the ground for them to eat, and all three of them seemed more than eager to chow down. The soldier watched in awe as the three of them ate, and as Jessica looked up, and flew into my arms in fear, digging into my chest.

"He's fine, Jessica." I reassured her, petting her softly, and watched as Varaha walked over to the soldier and rubbed his head against his knee, wanting to be pet. "Varaha wants you to pet him."

"Oh! I, uh…" The soldier stammered, reaching his hand to pet the pig pokemon, who snorted softly in reply. I laughed at the two of them, as Nina came over to me and sat down, watching the two of them.

"You're lucky, you know?" The soldier smiled sadly, as Varaha climbed into his lap, and I stopped laughing. "Ever since I was little, I wanted my own pokemon. It just always seemed so neat, that people could work with them as partners."

"Well, I would be more than happy to let you travel with me, I mean, if you wanted to." I said, smiling slightly, and the soldier looked up. "I know from personal experience that it can get pretty lonely out there." The soldier thought to himself for a minute, frowning deeply.

"I'll go on one condition." He replied.

"Throw it at me." I said.

"'Throw it at me'?" He repeated, furrowing his brows. "Excuse me?"

"Western speak, I mean, go ahead and tell me." I corrected myself, and his face relaxed.

"We have to go to my home village and tell my parents that we're defecting, and that they need to join us, otherwise…" The soldier trailed off, looking down and covering his mouth.

"Otherwise?"

"Otherwise… they'll be executed in my place." He looked up to meet my eyes and my blood froze.

"Yeah, I'll do it." I replied quickly, nodding profusely.

"Alright. Are you leaving tonight?" He asked, and I shook my head profusely.

"No way. I walked all the way here from Nampo, and walking to China will take several days at best. I need one day's rest, and then we can set out." I said, cautious of his reaction, anticipating him to beg me to set out tonight. Instead, his body lifted up slightly, as if a large weight was off of his shoulders, and smiled.

"Good idea. I get paid tomorrow, so we can spend it on food for the journey." He said, and I retrieved my pokemon, put them in my bag, and slung it on my shoulders.

"Well, let's meet here tomorrow at the same time, and set out then." I said, and began to walk out of the park, before the soldier stopped me.

"Wait, where are you gonna sleep?" The soldier asked, with concern painted on his face, and I turned to him and shrugged.

"No, no, no. You are not going to just go out into the cold, and find somewhere to sleep." He said, walking towards me. "You'll just walk around, maybe lay out on the street and freeze to death! Besides, I know somewhere you can sleep."

"You could've told me that first instead of nagging me." I snorted, crossing my arms. "Well then, show me where I can sleep."

He again walked me through the streets of Pyongyang, this time not by holding my hand and threatening me ominously, and the streets had no one on them. Pyongyang seemed to have turned off all of their lights, leaving all of the city in inky black darkness. Slowly, snow started falling from the sky in little flutters, and I watched as they danced to the ground. It was kind of nice, actually, walking amongst the glittering snow.

"Hey." I said, and the soldier looked over his shoulder at me.

"What?" He replied.

"What's your name?"

"Lee Joon-Ho." He said, looking forward briefly, before looking back again. "You?"

"Marie Jones."

"Marie." He said slowly, trying it out. "Huh. Interesting name."

"Thanks." I said, huddling into my jacket. Joon-Ho was right, it was seriously cold out tonight, and I probably wouldn't have made it very long without collapsing in an alleyway and dying of frostbite.

We arrived at the building Joon-Ho was leading me to, and he turned to me again, looking me dead in the eyes, very very serious.

"Listen, Marie." Joon-Ho said, placing both hands on my shoulders, causing me to sweat nervously. "Do not make a sound inside here, okay? Any sound at all could get us caught."

I nodded, and the two of us walked inside softly. The blast of heat was a relief from the unflinching cold, but I didn't show it. The room we were in was near impossible to decipher because of the lack of lights. All I could make out was a long, wide hallway in the front, and a shorter, thinner hallway close to my right. I could assume this could be some sort of army barracks, and even then it would be hard to hide in the rooms with the soldiers, because of how many soldiers lived in one space, but I assumed that Joon-Ho had a better idea than I do, probably because he lives here. We tiptoed across the concrete floor of the thinner hallway, until we ended up in front of the stairs, climbing onto the the stairs, with Joon-Ho holding me to make sure I didn't violently fall on my face, and onto the second floor, which proved to be a more dangerous beast to tame, with the flooring being wood instead of concrete, before he led me to the first door on the right side.

"Do not leave this room at any point until I tell you it's good to go. I'll bring you food for you and your pokemon, so don't worry, alright? I'll knock three times to tell you that I'm the one at the door." Joon-Ho whispered, waited until I nodded, and then began to slowly walk away, towards the stairs.

"Good night, Joon-Ho." I whispered, causing him to stop. He turned to me, appeared to smile, and replied:

"Good night Marie." And with that, he tiptoed down the stairs.

I slowly opened the door of the room, walked into the room itself, which was also on wood, and carefully shut the door behind me and locked it. The room was also almost impossible to decipher in the darkness, only the mattress on the floor was visible. I lightly set my bag down, and practically crawled into the bed. I threw the thick comforter with no cover on it over me, and fell straight into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **notes**

 **-the reason why people were offended by marie at nampo was because marie used the wrong honorifics with the older man at the stall. she said 동지 (implying high status) instead of 동무 (implying equal or low status) to a obviously lower status man causing the people around her to notice that either she was not a natural korean speaker or that she had no knowledge of honorifics and was raised in a barn. korean is hard lol**

 **\- in the same vein, the reason why joon-ho is so quick to notice that marie's a foreigner isn't because of her foreign accent. marie was taught to speak south korean korean, which is a lot more modern and different sounding than north korean korean, because of the fact that both countries have been seperate for over 50 years.**

 **this chapter mutated from its original course as i wrote, which turned out to be ok, because this seems to be a bit more plausable than what it was, and wouldnt involve filler of a character that would appear once, and never again, which isn't the best idea for characters.**

 **but anyway one of the companions has been revealed! woo. there's still a few more characters to be revealed, and all have very interesting personalities... ooh**

 **and before someone messages me about protraying a single member of the north korean military, which is like, 1 million people on any given day as sympathetic, please note that north korea has a conscription age of fucking 17, and they stay in the military for ten whole years. they have literally no choice to go into the military or not, and just last year a soldier about joon-ho's age defected by walking across the dmz (btw props to him that shit's fortified by mines), so its perfectly natural that he's ok with defecting so dont come for me for protraying one individual as a human.**

 **thanks to:**

 **vice's guide to north korea, which is a real great video series and almost got everyone involved imprisoned so watch it**

 **every single defector story i've read and watched who have provided insight into my world building**

 **elliot from earth nutshell's pictures, which are incredible,**

 **and the people on youtube posting north korean media** **news reports, and music, even though some of those accounts are definitely pro-north korea**

 **marie's team**

 **varaha, tepig M - nina, nidorina F - jessica, clefairy F**

 **joon-ho's team**

 **n/a**

 **anyway please review and fav. this keeps me going. also the new pokemon look neat. i really like oranguru and now im kicking myself for preordering sun instead of moon. at least i get techno lion...**

 **au revoir**


	4. And I'm just looking for an easy way out

**authors note**

 **salut and holy fuck was this a behemoth of a chapter to finish.**

 **almost this entire chapter was either written when i was a. very sick with a head cold, b. realizing i was about to miss my weekly update schedule and c. having a violent headache. life doesn't like to give me a break.**

 **chapter title is from gotye's easy way out**

 **anyway please fav and review**

* * *

I woke up at about 5 in the morning to a loud jarring guitar note, which caused me to jolt straight up and whip my head around the white room in confused bewilderment. There was a pause, then another guitar note was played again, and I rolled to my right and groaned. Who was playing guitar, loud guitar powered by an amp, at 5 in the morning, when the world is in a limbo of morning and night? I was about to get up, walk over to the next room, and thrash them into the next century, but then I remembered that I was supposed to make myself invisible, or else I would be caught and executed. So I just laid there, as the person next door started to play an actual song. Perhaps, if it wasn't 5 am, and I actually had some sleep, I would've enjoyed the music. Alas, it was not meant to be, as every note sounded like pure noise, and I felt like screaming to drown all of it out, instead I just covered my ears, closed my eyes and grimaced.

Finally, after at least an hour of a literal symphony of unbearable music, in which I almost had a heart attack out of sheer rage and died, which, honestly would've been better than having to listen to loud electric guitar at 5 am, the person in the other room unplugged the guitar and stopped, and I sighed in relief, relaxing my arms, face and mind. Immediately after, I fell straight back to sleep, my body exhausted from the rage flowing through my veins.

Of course, only about a few minutes later, I woke up to three knocks on the door, and I crawled over, a little irritated but happy to eat, I was starving, pure white comforter on my head, and answered the door. I was met with the stern face of Joon-ho in uniform holding two large covered trays of food in his hands in the pale brown hallway, who quickly whipped his head around, and stepped in, and when he shut the door behind him, he then smiled widely, showing off his dimples.

"Good morning." He said, sitting down on the mattress and uncovering his food. Even when he wasn't serious, I noted, he always sounded he was firm. The food was nothing special, rice on one part, what appeared to be shredded beef on another, assorted vegetables, and a cup of milk. "Did you sleep well?"

"No. Someone next door woke me up with an hour long guitar solo at 5 am." I growled, mixing my beef and rice with my chopsticks. "Almost made my head explode." Joon-ho looked confused at my face for a second, before a glimmer of realization came over him.

"Crap! I gave you a room right next to Moranbong!" Joon-ho exclaimed, dropping his chopsticks with a sudden clang, suddenly looking very scared. "I'm so sorry!"

"Water under the bridge." I waved it off, and Joon-ho's face eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and I clarified: "You're forgiven, who is Moranbong though?"

"They're a talented all girl band who preform for military officials, nice morale boosting songs." Joon-ho said between bites of beef, and I caught a hint of disgust in his voice. "Very popular with a lot soldiers."

"Ooh." I said, a teasing smile growing on my face. "The question is, do _you_ like them like they do, yknow?"

"My cousin's in the band." Joon-ho said in pure deadpan, looking me directly in the eyes with a tired look. "So no." The atmosphere in the room became akward as fast as humanly possible.

"I see." I mumbled, face burning hot and absent mindedly mixing my vegetables, before eating. "What instrument does she play?"

"Drums." Joon-ho said, a smile returning to his face. "She's amazing at them."

"I bet. Do you think that she would... you know..." I said, gesturing vaguely. When Joon-ho gave me a questioning look, I continued: "Come with us?" Joon-ho frowned thoughtfully, and was silent for several minutes.

"I want her to." Joon-ho said quietly, looking down at his chopsticks. "She's practically my sister, and I don't think being in this band is good for her. I've heard about what _he_ does when _he's_ tired of band members." Joon-ho spat that last line out, and was clenching his chopsticks with white knuckles.

"If you can convince her, it's fine by me." I smiled, and Joon-ho nodded, picking up his tray, and standing up. "I only have one other sleeping bag, though, so she has to bring her own." Joon-ho shrugged.

"I'll acquire some. But first..." Joon-ho said vaguely, walking to the front of the room, and opened the door, and reached for a large burlap bag, and dumped some of the contents, which were leafy greens and tomatoes, on the floor in front of the mattress.

"I was literally just going to ask about that!" I grinned, and grabbed my pokeballs from my bag, releasing my pokemon to chow down. "Thanks, man."

"You're welcome. I have to begin my final patrol around Pyongyang, I'll be back around…" Joon-ho said, straightening his jacket, and glancing at the clock on the top of the door. "At 2 pm. When I come back, we'll eat, and then go. You know what to do in the meantime." I nodded, and Joon-ho smiled at me, waved, and walked out, closing the door behind him, and I stepped over Nina, who looked up at me with a cautious glance, and I locked the door. After I walked back to the mattress, I flung myself onto it, and fished out my camera,turning the lens towards my face, and hit record.

"Hey, this is uh, Marie Jones. So, I guess my boat went too far north, and… Now I'm in Pyongyang! When I should be, like, in Seoul by now!" I said lowly, to make sure the girl who could be in the other room couldn't hear me.

I proceeded to run through the events of the day prior, how I walked to Pyongyang, couldn't go to the embassy to return home, how I met Joon-ho, and what we were going to do, making sure to highlight the fact that I had no intention of landing here, on the chance that Kim Jong Un was viewing my tape and would pardon me somehow, or that my parents knew that I hadn't been giving them the cold shoulder, and they needed to pay ransom so I wasn't executed.

"So yeah. If you're seeing this, I miiight be dead and someone hasn't removed the memory card while selling this, or I've made it to Beijing, and I'm making a super serious documentary about my travels. Either way…" I trailed off, and looked around the room. The whole room seemed to be a storage for books, with big bookcases filled with all sorts of books on both sides, and an entrance on the right side for a small bathroom, with a toilet. I caught a glint of a gold frame on top of the wall on the left and I zoomed in.

"And there he is, ladies and gentlemen! The man, the myth, the legend!" I dramatically announced, as I filmed the picture of the grinning face of Kim Jong-Il, next to a picture of his father. "The Dear Leader, the Son, Reincarnation of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-Il! Who has been watching me sleep. Creep." After a few minutes, I flipped the camera back to my face.

"Anyway, I'm going to go to bed, because I woke up at 5 am because someone in the room next to mine wanted to do a guitar solo for a whole hour." I groaned, running a hand through my chin length dark hair. "After, we'll hopefully leave Pyongyang, and make our way north to China. If not, I'm dead! If I live, I'll make a new video. Bye!" With that, I clicked the camera off. I don't know why I joked about dying through that video, maybe it was the only thing keeping my sanity alive. Whatever it was, it didn't matter right then, because I had bigger fish to fry than question my sanity, and I was feeling my eyelids becoming heavier, and my head was starting to buzz.

My pokemon had finished their meal, and most were laying down to take a nap, with the exception of Jessica, who was toddling around, looking at her surroundings, and humming to herself. I sighed, retrieving Nina and Varaha, and putting their pokeballs in my bag, but decided to leave Jessica out to roam, for the reasoning that she hadn't been out to wander for a while and was probably stir crazy. The Clefairy looked over at my reclining form after hearing me return the other two pokemon, and skipped over, with a smile, and she lightly slapped my face.

"No, no." I responded, turning away and lightly pushing her, which encouraged her to giggle and slap me again. "Marie has to sleep now." Jessica stopped and frowned, and cocked her head, a worried look in her eyes. She'd had seen me sick tons of times, and was always inconsolable during it, refusing to leave my side, even as a itty bitty Cleffa.

"Not sick. Marie just woke up too early, so she's tired." I clarified, and Jessica walked over and laid down next to me, and I pulled her close, making not sure to crush her, and give her room to get up, in case she didn't want to sleep next to me. Jessica softly patted my head, which was better than getting Doubleslapped in the face. Soon after Jessica laid down with me, I fell asleep.

"Uuu…"

I woke up very slowly, groggily sitting myself up, and blinking rapidly, trying to get my eyes to focus on something. Still in the room, I told myself, still in North Korea. Jessica stood in front of my mattress, thankfully she hadn't wrecked the room in boredom, which was a plus. However, she was shaking, and looking at the door, which made me very nervous. Was I betrayed? Did someone find out about me? I grabbed my bag and pulled my gun out from my jacket pocket, but didn't click the safety off.

"Uuuuu…" Jessica whined, and I stood up and scooped her up in my arms. Tears were welling up in her eyes, and she started pointing at the door. I walked towards it, and I was immediately hit with the noise of two people arguing on the hallway outside. The two were so loud, I didn't have to put my ear to the door. I immediately recognized Joon-ho's serious tone, but he was arguing with an unknown woman.

"I can't believe you, oppa. You're seriously willing to defect, put our whole family at risk, for some stupid picture?" The woman yelled, with a mature, dark tone to her voice, and Jessica cuddled into my chest. I guess Joon-ho was having a hard time trying to get his cousin to join him. "I thought you were better than this, I thought you wouldn't be seduced by the imperialists!"

"I haven't been 'seduced', I've opened my eyes!" Joon-ho snapped angrily, and I heard a small footstep back, and then Joon-ho lowered his voice. "You've never been up far north, you've never seen the stuff I've seen in the villages up there. There's no hope in this country, our best shot is to go to China, find a way to Thailand or South Korea, and I'll find a job for the both of us."

"You're crazy, oppa." Joon-ho's cousin said, and I pictured her running her hands through her hair and pacing. "You've lost your mind since I last saw you! You used to be so obedient to the Party, and now look at you! Comrade Kim Jong Un has provided so much for you, for us, and you're willing to throw it all away to go down _there_?"

" _ **Comrade!?**_ " Joon-ho spat, and I cringed at his volume. "You remember what he did with his uncle, right? You watched him mow down members of Unhasu Orchestra, right? How can you call that _monster_ your comrade?"

"Because he-"

"What? He made you famous? He gave you money?" Joon-ho taunted, and I hid the gun away in my pocket and reached for the door. "He didn't tie you up and blow you up with anti-aircraft fire? You're just the Moranbong drummer to him, and when you're not willing to be the drummer anymore, you're nothing to him."

I pulled the door open before any of them could volley another insult towards each other, and the two of them whipped their heads to face me. Joon-ho's cousin was a short, pale skinned, almost unnaturally thin woman, dressed in an dull green button up shirt, with same colored pants tucked into dark brown, ankle high boots, which was kind of baffling, because she banged sticks on drums for a living, not massacring thousands of people. Maybe Kim Jong Un had a fetish for girls in military outfits, which might have been the only thing we really agreed on, because that uniform did not lessen the fact that his cousin was a very pretty woman. She had dark hair only past her ears, with an oval shaped face, and wore minimal makeup on her eyes and lips. After her initial shock, and after she looked at Jessica, who was cowering and shaking in my arms, her face twisted into a grimace.

"You…!" She snapped, taking a step towards me, fist raised, and I backed away quickly. "You've seduced oppa into a life of capitalism…! How dare you, you Yankee bi-" She was cut off by Joon-ho restraining her, and she struggled against his grasp.

"I told you not to unlock the door at all costs!" Joon-ho shouted at me, as he shut that very door with his foot, and I scowled.

"You scared Jessica and woke me up with your fighting, and you two were going too far!" I shouted back, but at a lower volume. "Anyone could have walked into you talking about Kim Jong Un like that, and then had you executed!"

"It was a family discussion, Marie!" Joon-ho snapped back.

"It doesn't matter! We need to explain this to her in a calm, civilized manner. Shouting will get us nowhere in this." I said, as his cousin was reaching her head over to bite his hand. "Let's start this over." Joon-ho sat his cousin down in front of the mattress, but kept his hands on her wrists, and I sat down on the mattress while still holding Jessica, who was peeking at Yeong-mi while still shaking, and I took a deep breath in, and out.

"Hello, Miss…"

"Lee Yeong-mi." Yeong-mi hissed out, and Joon-ho rolled his eyes, and breathed loudly out of his nose.

"Miss Yeong-mi. I'm Marie Jones." I said, smiling warmly, as Yeong-mi scowled at me. "It's my pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"So you are a Yank." Yeong-mi spat, and Joon-ho glared at her.

"No, I'm not a 'Yank'. If you would listen to my story with a open mind, maybe you would find that me and you aren't so different after all." I said, trying my best to remain calm. "Would you mind that?"

"I don't have much of a choice."

I breathed deeply through my nose, and recounted the events that led me to Pyongyang for the second time today, and watched Yeong-mi's expressions throughout the story. Slowly, but surely, Yeong-mi's expression softened a bit, and she wasn't ready to kill me at first glance. However, the words she said next threw my observations off completely:

"How do I know you aren't an American spy?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at me, and I grabbed my bag, and pulled out my Canadian passport, and gave it to her. She looked at it for a moment, nodded like she understood something, and then handed it back to me, and said:

"I can't read English."

I swear to Jesus Christ himself, I almost lost it at that one single sentence, I almost screamed at her for 20 minutes, I almost went into a full fledged meltdown, but I pulled through, I pulled through all of that, by staying calm.

"Or French? Because only Canada has both English and French on their official documents." I said, putting my passport back into my bag. Yeong-mi thought for another moment, in which I thought that I had finally proven my innocence, and then replied:

"How do I know you're not a Canadian spy?" I clasped my hands together in front of me and continued my breathing exercises, before Joon-ho interrupted me.

"You're acting like a child, noona! Just accept that Marie is telling you the truth!" Yeong-mi visibly flinched, before glaring back at Joon-ho.

"I'd be a pretty incompetent spy if I was caught by Rumpa People's Pleasure Park trying to gain entry, so I could find a building to sleep in for the night." I said, and Yeong-mi looked up at me. "Please, believe me that Joon-ho just wants to protect you, and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you, and wants you to come with him so you'll be safe. Do you want to come with us?" Again, a moment passed when Yeong-mi looked like she was deep in thought.

"I guess I'll go..." Yeong-mi shrugged, and both Joon-ho and I breathed a sigh of relief. Jessica squirmed out of my arms and totaled between me and Yeong-mi, trying to protect me.

"What is this small, pink thing?" Yeong-mi asked, squinting at Jessica, who had crossed her arms, and growled at Yeong-mi. "What is it doing?"

"Her name is Jessica, and she's a Clefairy!" I said, loosening myself up a bit, as Yeong-mi stared at Jessica, with inquisitive eyes. "She's kind of a mama's girl, because I raised her when I was little. She's protecting me." Yeong-mi laughed, covering her mouth politely.

"She's cute." Yeong-mi laughed again, reaching her hand out to Jessica, which intensified the Clefairy's growling. "She thinks that she can beat me."

"Don't be so sure she can't!" I said, a smile growing on my face. "She can really bite with those teeth." With that, Yeong-mi quickly brought her hand back. I stood up, putting my bag on my shoulders, causing all three of them to look up.

"Let's get moving." I smiled, and all three of them followed me out the door, into the hallway, which was the same color of the room, and in front of me, the hallway was full of dark colored wooden doors, and in the distance, I could see a stairway leading downstairs.

"I have to get my some clothes and personal belongings, though." Yeong-mi said, with a lighter tone than before, moving quickly forwards towards one of the doors. Jessica tottled towards me, and stood in front of me and began walking forward, as if she was leading me to the stairway, and I followed her as she wished.

"Fine by me." I replied, watching as Joon-ho and Yeong-mi opened the door to the latter's room, rubbing my nose absent-mindedly as I walked further, my goal being to reach the staircase and wait there, and then almost tripped over Jessica, who had suddenly stopped. I was about to complain, before I suddenly heard what appeared to be a woman singing without words. Must be one of the singers in the band, I thought to myself.

I was fascinated by the sound of her voice, swaying slightly to the music she was making on one foot, before I noticed that Jessica was now floating down the hallway, and stopped at a door of one of the rooms. Unfortunately, my brain was slow to react to the fact that Jessica was about to do something bad, and I only noticed what Jessica was doing when she hopped slightly and floated in place, then pulled the doorknob, which opened the door quietly, and that sight caused me to scuttle towards her as quietly as possible, which was almost impossible because of the creaky wood flooring.

The room was way more extravagant than mine, actually looking like a room in a house instead of a repurposed closet, with light tan carpeting and posters of the what appeared to be Moranbong in formal Korean attire. There was an old CRT television at one of the room, with a sofa in between. I noticed that the singing was closer now, and a pang of dread ran down my spine. I needed to get me and Jessica out of here as soon as possible, without the singer noticing me, and causing me even more trouble today. I silently creeped through the entrance of the hallway into the main room, which still had the pictures of the Father and Son duo on top of the wall, which caused me to roll my eyes slightly. I turned my head to catch a glimpse of the singer, who was wearing the same outfit as Yeong-mi was, but was sitting with her back facing me, so I couldn't see her face, or how tall she was. She appeared to be… embroidering? Sewing? One of those two, and she was singing to herself, and swaying back and forth as she did it. Jessica was literally only an inch away from her, swaying to her music, and thankfully, the woman had not noticed her, and Jessica wasn't trying to slap her. Alright, I thought to myself, I can pick Jessica up, and then we could be out of here fast, without entangling one more person in this mess. However, as I stepped forward, the woman suddenly froze, stopped singing, and turned to face me.

If Yeong-mi was pretty, than her band mate was absolutely stunning. She was only a little bit taller than Joon-ho, so still pretty short compared to me, and was a little bit thicker than Yeong-mi's thin frame, and wasn't as… flat in the front. to be some what polite. But, she was about the same body type, which was a little bit concerning. Her dark hair was longer than Yeong-mi's, actually reaching her chin, with her bangs swept to the left side of her face, and small strands of hair that weren't styled behind her face framing her round face. Her round eyes had a warm quality to them, even though she was looking at me in primal fear. Her nose was small and pointed slightly upwards. Her lips were full, pink things, and her mouth gaped slightly in surprise. It took her longer to react to my presence, so I closed my eyes, breathed out slowly to try to subside my panic, and covered her mouth as she opened it to scream, instead muffling it to a yelp.

"Sush!" I said with some urgency to my voice as she whimpered against my palm, and I watched her face contort as she heard my accent, realizing that I wasn't just some crazy fan, and was a _foreigner_ , so I subconsciously let myself panic, and quickly replied. "J-just let me get something, okay? After that, I'll be out of your hair" Instead of feeling her nod, I felt her teeth rip into my palm. I grimaced in pain, and drew my hand back. Her teeth actually broke the skin, and little pinpricks of blood surrounded the indents just above my thumb. I looked up to see her panting and glaring at me, lipstick smeared and sweat dripping down.

"Ow, I told you, I'm just getting something! Jus-" I whimpered, before she slapped me across my face, and I tasted a little bit blood in my mouth from biting down hard on my lip, and I will admit fully that I absolutely deserved it for intruding into someone's house. However, instead of screaming to high heaven, she just stared at me, with narrowed eyes as I caught my breath, as if she was studying me under a microscope.

"I'm not going to steal anything." I whispered, which did not change her expression at all, so I pointed at Jessica, who was not defending me at all, which i also kind of deserved, that comment caused the woman to quickly look down, and look up. I switched to English in a panic: "Come on, Jessica!" The woman's glance turned from angry, to pure offended.

"Trying to get out of this, Yankee?" The woman said condescendingly, and even though she was mocking me, her voice was still beautiful, almost like church bells, and I felt fear jolt up my spine. "Well, tell that to the police when they get you." With that, she began to walk towards the door, and I gave chase after her, and tackled her to the floor, catching her head before she slammed it against the carpet, which would still hurt her. I pinned her hands to the ground, and stayed firm against her struggling.

"Listen to me." I said through gritted teeth, as I held her down. "I'm not a Yankee. I'm not a spy. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to go home, okay? I said something wrong, but that's because I'm-" I stopped when I felt her press herself against me in an attempt to escape, and I inhaled sharply. We stared at each other for a minute, and I swore I heard my face sizzling because of how hot it was.

"You're a girl." The woman said, with wide eyes and an amazed tone, but I couldn't tell if it was positive or negative, which was unnerving to say the least.

"Yeah, I am." I said, furrowing my brows in confusion. "I thought it was obvious." I thought maybe, on a whim, that she would just stop struggling, and let me and Jessica go in peace, but instead, she tried to kick me between the legs, which I managed to mitigate to my left leg, which still made it hurt and throb a lot, and began to struggle even more than before.

"Ow! Hey!" I yelled, as she managed to free one of her hands for a second, before I pushed it down again, causing her to snarl like an animal, and thrash even more. "What's set you off about me being a girl, huh?"

"I knew, I knew that you Yankees were awful people. I knew it." She spat at me, digging her long nails into my arm, which stung like no one's business. "But I didn't think you'd be that disgusting to send their own daughters to spy on our Dear Leader… Well, I guess you learn something new every day, huh?"

"Excuse me?" I growled through gritted teeth, trying to ignore the pain. "I have no idea what you're talking about, probably because I'm not a spy!"

"Don't act stupid with me. You're in this room because you want to kill Comrade Kim, just like the rest of your countrymen, except they were too cowardly to send real men to do the job." She snapped, and that just confused me further.

"What?" I asked, and before the woman could grace me with more crap fed to her since childhood, Joon-ho and Yeong-mi, now with large backpacks similar to mine on them, walked through the hallway to be faced with our writhing bodies, and Jessica looking at us fighting with an interested expression. Joon-ho groaned loudly in anger, and ran straight towards us and pulled me off of mystery woman, who proceeded to lunge at me until she saw Yeong-mi, which caused her to stop, and stare at her in shock.

"Marie, what the hell happened here?" Joon-ho snarled, and I just sighed in response. "You better have a good excuse for why you were fighting with a Moranbong member in her own room."

"Jessica was attracted by her singing, and I followed." I groaned, rubbing my face. "I just wanted to get in and out, but the woman saw me, and accused me of being a spy, and we started fighting." Joon-ho sighed and rolled his eyes, but was cut off by the mystery woman speaking to Yeong-mi.

"Unnie, what are you doing?" The woman asked, almost as if she was a confused little girl, and sat up. "Why do you have a backpack on?" Yeong-mi's face contorted in sadness, before she replied to the woman.

"I'm leaving, Seon-hyang." She said firmly, adjusting her backpack strap. "Me and Joon-ho are going to China, with Marie here ." She gestured towards me, and I nodded solemnly, which made Seon-hyang stare angrily at me.

"It's all your fault, Yankee spy." She spat at me, but seemed to be holding herself back from grabbing my hair and punching me in the nose, and I shrugged in response, having nothing to say to her to help or hurt. "Don't you shrug at me, you fox!"

"Don't call Marie that, Seon-hyang." Joon-ho said firmly, and Seon-hyang merely glared at him. "Just because she's here doesn't mean she's a spy."

"What do you know, oppa?" Seon-hyang snapped, and pointed at me. "She's turned you against the Party, because she's a spy who wants to start a revolution to overthrow Comrade Kim!"

"How is Marie a spy?" Joon-ho retorted.

"She speaks English, and has a pokemon, all things Yankee spies have!"

"She's not a spy." Yeong-mi replied, crossing her arms and looking down at Seon-hyang, who still looked defiant. "I know this for a fact."

"What's your proof, unnie?" Seon-hyang retorted, crossing her arms as well.

"No spy would be incompetent enough to go straight through someone's front door, leave that door open, and tackle someone to the ground right in front of that wide open door." Yeong-mi smiled sarcastically, and I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for telling me." I growled.

"Seon-hyang, tell everyone in Moranbong that I left for my hometown in the countryside, and that I won't be back for a while." Yeong-mi patted Seon-hyang's head, and the taller girl stood up and grabbed her hand.

"No. I'm not letting you go without me." Seon-hyang snapped, and then grudgingly looked back at me. "...Even if I have to go with her."

"Thanks again." I snapped back, and only got a glare from Seon-hyang. "I mean, if she's bringing her own bag, with her own stuff, and doesn't antagonize me the entire way to China, I'm alright."

It took about 20 minutes for Seon-hyang to stuff almost her entire room into a bag that Joon-ho managed to pull from… somewhere. All the while, whenever we locked eyes, Seon-hyang glared at me. Just my luck, when I finally meet someone who's attractive looking, they hate my guts for some stupid reason that I can't fix. At least Joon-ho enjoyed having me around, and Yeong-mi could at least tolerate me. Jessica seemed very interested in what Seon-hyang was doing, following her around with a smile on her face, even though only a few minutes prior she watched Seon-hyang slap me violently across the face. It was so weird, Jessica was scared of Joon-ho, who had done nothing to me, didn't like Yeong-mi, who had called me a Yankee, but didn't attack me, but loved Seong-hyang, who fought me and called me a spy multiple times. At least Seon-hyang didn't like, slap or yell at Jessica, so I guess Jessica following her around was all right.

"Alright… Now that everyone has hopefully gathered everything they want to bring together," I said, slinging my bag on my back, and picking up Jessica. "Let's get out of this city, before we end up being a 12 person group."

Joon-ho walked out into the hallway first, and lead the way down the stairway, but stopped and hid behind a wall, when a gaggle of soldiers walked past, with Joon-ho clutching my arm. After that quick scare, we began to walk towards the back exit, which was monitored less, as Joon-ho told us as we snuck past another soldier. Yeong-mi and Seong-hyang stuck close to each other, holding each other's hands. Joon-ho was on high alert, looking around for any of his colleagues that could identify him or one of the Moranbong members. Jessica was looking around, very interested in her surroundings, but not screaming or begging me to get something for her, which was the one nice thing about this day.

"This sneaking around is a lot like Star Wars..." I mumbled, trying to break the ice. "Like we're in the Death Star or something..." Joon-hoo turned to me and stared at me in confusion.

"Marie, I have no idea what you are talking about." Joo-ho whispered back.

"They don't have bootleg Star Wars here?"

"I have never heard of 'Star Wars' in my entire life." Yeong-mi spoke up, and I looked back at her.

"Well, I guess when we make it to China, I'll see if I can buy it for us to watch."

"Is it a Yankee movie?" Seon-hyang spat out, and I rolled my eyes.

"What do you mean by that? Are you asking if its propaganda?"

"I'm asking if it's an American movie." I snorted at that.

"If you're gonna ask me that for every movie I mention." I snorted, "You're gonna find that you aren't going to be watching a lot of movies when we reach China."

"To answer your question, I need to give you some context, that movies in the west are made differently than they are here. Does the Party approve every single film made here?"

"Yes." Seon-hyang answered immediately, crossing her arms.

"In America, and in the West in general, they don't approve any films, they just get released"

"What?" Joon-ho said, turning to me with wide eyes. "They _don't_?"

"Yup." I said nodding, and all three of them looked at me with confusion in their eyes, and the conversion grinded to a halt right there, as we had walked far enough so that we could see the exit right in front of us. Joon-ho opened the door slightly, and peeked outside.

"No one's out there." Joon-ho whispered, gesturing for us to move outside, and I followed him out the door, which lead to an alleyway between another building, with a large beautifully painted mural painted on the side of it, which was of North Korean soldiers violently but bloodlessly killing an American GI, and I found myself staring at it intently.

"Are you threatened by this mural, fox?" Seon-hyang snarked at me, sly smile on her face, and I side-eyed her over my shoulder.

"...No." I deadpanned.

"Why? Aren't you an American like he is?"

"No...?"

"Then why do you speak English, hm?" Seon-hyang smiled, with an expression that basically amounted to "gotcha".

"Not everyone who speaks English is American." I said, trying to sound as bored as possible. "My dad's Canadian, my mom's from Macau. I'm not a Yankee."

That seemed to stun Seon-hyang and instead of one of us responding, I followed Joon-ho as he walked down the alleyway, leading us to the sidewalks of Pyongyang. I tried to look as unsuspicious as I could while holding Jessica, but thankfully she had fallen asleep while we discussed movies, and looked like a stuffed toy, which got us more looks from children, who began tugging on their parents clothes to ask them for something similar, than actual stares. We made a good distance from the barracks, before Joon-ho turned to me and the two other girls when we reached an alleyway by the Juche tower courtyard, who were looking around aimlessly.

"Let's stop here for dinner." Joon-ho said, and sat down on the paved ground, and Yeong-mi, Seon-hyang, and I sat down with him, and I watched him rummage through his bags, and then gave me some canned vegetable soup rations. I looked down at it, my middle class upbringing screaming at me that I couldn't just eat soup _cold_ , and then looked back at Joon-ho, who had raised his eyebrows.

"Do you have a can opener?" I asked, and he fished one out of his bag, and handed it to me. The contents of the can, which were vegetables that I could not identify for the life of me swimming in liquid, weren't very appetizing, but what did you expect from an army barrack, filet mignon? I took a deep breath, said a wordless prayer to any deity who would listen, and chugged the whole can, which garnered a horrified look from Joon-ho as he was gathering something from his bag, a surprised look from Yeong-mi with a can in her hand, and a mere raise of eyebrows from Seong-hyang, who was just sitting down.

I cannot find any equivalent taste to compare what that can cold vegetable soup tasted like, that could have been sitting in that building for _years_ , but all I know is that it tasted absolutely rancid, but I swallowed it all with a bit of a struggle. After I struggled to swallow, I put the can down with a thud, and wiped the tears beginning to form in my eyes. There was several minutes of silence between all of us, in which everyone had their eyes fixed upon me, and I felt my body burn with embarrassment.

"You're supposed to heat it up." Joon-ho said quietly, holding a pan in his left hand, and a portable gas stove in the other.

"Oh." I said quietly, handing him the can opener. "I didn't think you'd have that."

"Trust me, I'm always prepared." Joon-ho said, a smile gracing his face as he fished out a different can of soup. "Let's eat, everyone but Marie."

I watched as everyone else had nice, warm vegetable soup, and laid against the brick wall and tried not to puke everywhere, because the soup wasn't sitting too well in my stomach. I let the rest of my pokemon out, and woke up Jessica, and gave them soup in little bowls that Joon-ho had got from his bag. He really prepared for everything, I thought to myself, kind of amazed. After everyone finished, I retrieved my pokemon, except for Jessica, who insisted on staying out, ripped the labels on the cans into tiny shreds and threw the cans in a trash bin nearby, but put the label scraps in my pocket, so that we weren't completely obvious, and we set off through Pyongyang, in the dying daylight.

By the time we reached the edge of the city, night had fallen over the buildings, but the lights were still on, and they glittered far away. We were standing on a road, deserted of cars like the rest of the city, even at night, faced by what appeared to be a highway and large forest. The temperature had dropped significantly, and all three of my companions were now wearing button up jackets. I walked forward on the road before Joon-ho grabbed my shoulder and I stopped.

"Look." He said quietly, and subtly pointed to a far away outpost, where I could see a light, and a figure of a man standing up.

"We can't leave that way without papers. We're going to have to go through the forest." Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi groaned loudly, and Joon-ho walked into the forest, before stopping and looking back at us.

I quickly followed him in, and looked back at Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi, who were still standing on the road, looking around Pyongyang for a few minutes, before Yeong-mi walked over, and Seon-hyang begrudgingly followed. I looked back at Pyongyang through the trees, and watched as all the lights flickered off, and I immediately lost any sense of longing for the city. Seon-hyang glared at me when I looked back at her, so I turned my face forward, and stepped forward.

And with that, my journey really began.

* * *

 **notes**

 **\- moranbong is an actual band, created by KJU in 2012, and consists of a instrumental part and a singing part and songs such as "hail to the workers party!" and "let's subordinate ourselves to under the party flag", so you can guess what their purpose is. member numbers vary due to some members either getting married, moving to different bands, and/or allegedly getting purged and disappearing forever. their songs are actually quite catchy, which causes me to listen to entire concerts while writing, and i would suggest looking their music up for some tunes and/or to be disturbed. if ur curious, yeong-mi is based of current drummer han su-jong, and seon-hyang is based off of pak son-hyang. tbqh my favorite song is "with pride", and the best video (imo) to see the models for both characters is "glory to general kim jong un" (son-hyang is the first indivdual girl shown).**

 **-"oppa" is a common pronoun used by women to refer to men who could be their boyfriends/brothers/fathers, and therefore has no real english equivalent (bro maybe...?). i orginally used "hyung" in the first draft, which is used between men and never used by women. sorry for the mistake.**

 **-"noona" is also a pronoun, used by men to refer to women, and also has a variety of meanings that have no real english equivalent, so i will leave it untranslated.**

 **-same with "unnie", except its used by women for women.**

 **-unhasu orchestra was also a north korean band, but is much older than moranbong, created when KJI was in power, and KJU's wife, Ri Sol-ju was a member. however reportedly some of the members were executed by machine gun fire (reasons ranging for creating porn to espionage), and thus the entire band has never appeared in public again.**

 **-almost everyone knows about KJU's uncle Jang Sung-taek, but if you don't i'll recount it for you. Taek was a high ranking official in the north korean government, as is with many of the Kim dynasty relatives, and had been since KJI's reign, even though he might have been 'reeducated' at one point. however, in 2013, early in KJU's reign, he was accused of being a counter revolutionary, stripped of all his postions within the party, and then executed. nothing more has being confirmed other than his "counter revolutionary" status, which might be a kinder way of saying "taek started a failed coup", but we dont know shit, so its just pure speculation. contray to popular belief, he was not executed by being thrown to starving dogs, as reported by western media, because that story has been traced back to a chinese satire website, which is why you should always source what you say before you post or write it. taek was actually most likely gunned down by machine gun and incinerated, and there are reports from south korea that his entire family has been executed, with one nephew being burnt alive by a flamethrower, but this all has the potential to be bullshit. all we know for certain, until the dynasty falls and all documents have been released a la soviet russia, is that taek is most defintely dead.**

 **so yeah, new companions, and marie's out of pyongyang! this was one hell of a chapter to write while sick, but it developed joon-ho and marie's relationship and characters, and introduced new companions, so its all worth it. if one of the characters seems kind of off/isn't being characterized right, please mention it in a message or review, and i'll try my best to fix it (only exception is seon-hyang, but i can promise that'll she be more likeable in later chapters, and also keep in mind that north koreans are basically taught to hate the us from the same age they are taught to read, probably because we turned pyongyang into ash during the war.)**

 **special thanks to the operator of the morandisco blog, who's website helped me put names to faces i had previously seen, and had links to clear videos of moranbong concerts, which have not left my head for 5 days.**

 **marie's team**

 **varaha, tepig m - nina, nidorina f - jessica, clefairy f**

 **joon-ho's team**

 **n/a**

 **yeong-mi's team**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's team**

 **n/a**

 **anyway please review and fav, it means a whole lot to me, and even a follow makes me smile.**

 **au revior**


	5. Life is so mysterious

**authors note:**

 **salut**

 **homework is awful... but im doing better in my classes, so thats good lol.**

 **anyway here's todays update. if everything had gone to plan, the update probably would have happened tommorrow, because originally i was working, but due to circumstance and the fact that i cant and have never had an urge to drive, i couldn't go. so i sat on my ass at home and finished this up in between managing to run my almost 10 year old pc for 5 minutes before it crashes. arg**

 **so here we go folks**

 **song is "사람들이 움직이는 게 (how people move)" by akdong musician (AKMU)**

 **please fav, follow, and review. it means the world to me**

* * *

Pyongyang was a long ways behind us before the two Moranbong members got out of their funk, which meant about five days of nothing out of the ordinary happening, a sort of sad silence falling between the two Moranbong members as they left behind the life they knew, and flung themselves into the unknown. I understood how they felt, how scary it was to leave behind the world you knew for a country that you barely knew the language of, so I gave them time to think. The only one who really talked to me was Seon-hyang, and that was mainly angry quips at me.

Joon-ho, on the other hand, wasn't smiling, but seemed… excited, throughout our journey. He was moving a bit faster than usual, and would frequently chat with me about China and what he wanted to do there before we fell asleep. I was kind of caught between the three, I was glad to leave Pyongyang because it was a city 40 years in the past, and seeing the Kims everywhere freaked me out to no end, but I was also sad to leave an actual city, with heating and electricity… sometimes, for the road, where I would have to fight for my food if Joon-ho's almost endless stock of canned soup ever ran out. Jessica insisted that she would be out no matter what to protect me, the only exception being at night, and I held her close to me. Because of this, she warmed up to Joon-ho, finally letting the soldier pet him, tolerated Yeong-mi enough to let the drummer walk by her, and followed Seon-hyang constantly, whining for the singer to pick her up, which she never did, and looked freaked out when the pink pokemon begged.

In the forests, there weren't many pokemon, contrary to popular trainer belief that North Korea was a goldmine because there was no trainer scene, probably because people in nearby villages caught them and ate them for food. I couldn't get angry at them, however, because they would starve to death otherwise. I saw a small group of aimless Rattata that darted when they saw me, a tiny flock of Starly, which also bolted when spotted, and what appeared to be an Ursaring far in the distance. However, if I wanted to catch any pokemon here, I would have to lure them across the Chinese border, where it was fair game, and that was too much of a hassle for a mere Starly. I ended up just taking photos of my surroundings, some pictures of my companions, and a video of me laying in my sleeping bag, detailing the events that happened between now and my previous video, proving that I was alive and hadn't been blown to pieces.

Surprisingly, Seon-hyang was the one to break the silence, even though she avoided me like the plague and when we did interact, she tackled me, kicking and biting, not enough to bleed, but enough for the Lee's to try to keep us apart, as we treaded across the dirt of the forest floor on the third day, after we had been walking for about 5 hours with only a small break for lunch, passing by a small village practically ripped out from the 1500s. We had stopped for dinner on the trunk of a felled tree, and I had practically inhaled the lentil soup he got, before we set off again.

"How did you even get here?" Seon-hyang snarled, and I sighed in resignation. "Did you get smuggled across the DMZ by your Canadian handlers and the puppets?" At least she wasn't calling me a Yankee anymore, I thought to myself.

"Puppets...?" I asked, turning my head towards her.

"She's referring to South Koreans." Joon-ho clarified, and I turned to him.

"Thanks." I said, and Joon-ho shrugged in response.

"Answer my question, fox." Seon-hyang demanded, and I rolled my eyes.

"I was taking a boat to South Korea, but something happened and I went north without getting bombed by either side, and I woke up in Nampo."

"Why were you going to the South, fox, to spy there?"

"For a pokemon tournament, baby." I retorted, shifting my aching arms, which were carrying a napping Jessica, and I watched Seon-hyang narrow her eyes at the nickname. "Then I was going to Beijing to challenge their Pokemon League."

"Don't call me baby!" Seon-hyang exclaimed, and the Lee cousins glared at us, ready to stop another physical fight, which seemed eminent.

"I'll stop when you stop calling me 'fox'."

"No!" Seon-hyang shouted.

"Then I can call you whatever I want, princess." I smiled, and noticed how Seon-hyang's face and ears turned bright red and she tried to hide her face in her coat collar, causing me to grin. However, before I could tease her even more, Joon-ho put a hand on my shoulder, and glared at me, and I didn't tease her further.

We made a good distance before we found a little enclave surrounded by trees by a lake, and Joon-ho and I decided to stop there for the night. In a few minutes, we had the 4 person tent set up, not without a struggle, however, and I began to put a fire together not far away with the dead leaves nearby, having found no logs that were of a moderate size, much to my displeasure.

"Even if your love ruins me and hurts me, to me, it's only you..." I sung to myself as I struck the match and set the leaves and charcoal (that I had found while searching through the emergency box) on fire, watching them burn in a large flash of orange. Yeong-mi and Joon-ho were out in the forest, foraging for anything extra they could find, leaving me and Seon-hyang alone, with strict instructions not to fight, who had gingerly and reluctantly tucked in a sleeping Jessica in my sleeping bag the last time I saw her. "My love starts with you and ends with you..."

"What are you doing?" Seon-hyang yelled from the tent, appearing to be setting up the sleeping bag that Joon-ho had got for her.

"I'm starting a fire." I said, rolling my eyes, as I added more leaves to the fire along with the soup labels I had collected, which caused it to grow in size.

"I know that!" Seon-hyang retorted. "What were you doing while you were doing that?"

"...Singing?" I said, with a befuddled expression. "Don't you sing as a job?"

"No! What are you singing?" I groaned under my breath.

"A South Korean pop song."

"You're singing one of the puppets songs!?" She yelled, an offended tone in her voice.

"Yes, didn't I tell you I was going there first?" I smiled sarcastically. "So, I know South Korean songs, instead of North Korean songs." Seon-hyang crawled on her hands and knees over to me from the tent, and glared deep into my eyes, putting her face very close to mine, which caused me to lean back with wide eyes. You could cut the tension with a knife, maybe dice it up and put it in a nice tension soup.

"What?" I asked, and she didn't even blink, just stared at me. We stayed like that for a good 3 minutes, and I watched as Seon-hyang's face soften from rage to sullen irritation. She muttered something quietly under her breath while looking away, and even when I was right to her face, I couldn't decipher what she said.

"Excuse me?"

"I said nothing!" Seon-hyang said quickly, her face contorting back to anger, a light flush dancing across her cheeks. "Don't sing that song again. It makes me think unclean things about the General."

"Define unclean." I said, trying to get my mind out of the gutter, because her choice of words was bringing up mental images that were disgusting and made me shiver. He has a fucking wife, I reminded myself.

"You're tempting me with capitalism!" Seon-hyang said, jabbing a finger into my chest, which kind of hurt.

"I'm singing about love! What, don't you sing about love?"

"No! My skills are reserved to promote the Party and the Dear Leader, and them only!"

I said a loud string of curses in Cantonese, ones I overheard my mother and aunt saying under their breath when they hurt themselves or had enough of my troublemaking, and then used in school so I could curse without getting in trouble.

"What did you say about the party?" Seon-hyang was now dangerously close to my lips, one wrong move away from collision, and I found my face burning.

"I said that your hair is lovely!" I said loudly, and Seon-hyang looked unimpressed at my lie.

"You didn't say that. I know some Mandarin, and I didn't hear 'hair' anywhere in that sentence!"

"But I wasn't speaking in Mandarin! I was speaking in Cantonese!"

"Oh, you're real funny. You should think about being a comedian."

"It's true!" I retorted, scowling angrily, and Seon-hyang narrowed her eyes again. "Anyway, back to our original topic. Just because songs are created in the South, doesn't mean all of them are a thinly veiled anthem about rebellion against the Party."

"It's still from the South!" Seon-hyang yelled. "The South is being controlled by the US to make music to flood the pennisula with immoral music, so we must fight against the imperialists."

Something was off in the way Seon-hyang talked, and it made me very uncomfortable. I tried to dissuade my suspicions, hoping that she hated me personally instead of being taught to, and having me break into her room was a plus.

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"I mean that we, the Korean people, need to end the reign of the American bastards, once and for all!" Seon-hyang said. "And protect the Great Marshal from harm!"

"Do _you_ want to?" I asked, looking deep into Seon-hyang's eyes, which had widened. How deep did the regime go in her? Did it penetrate her very being, making her just another drone in the army, stripping her of her individuality? "Or is it required of you?"

Seon-hyang was silent, face creased in thought. It took a while for her to respond.

"It-It is required." Seon-hyang whispered, voice shaky. I felt my body sink in sadness, because of course it would be, of course. I walked over to the tent, leaving a thoughtful Seon-hyang behind, and fished out an Aerobar from my bag. As I walked over, Seon-hyang looked up at me, and I sat down in front of her, and opened the Aerobar's wrapper, and tore a chunk off, and held it to Seon-hyang.

"Here." I said, and Seon-hyang stared at me, then at the chunk of chocolate, then back at me. "Try it."

"What is it?"

"Chocolate."

"Is it American?" She said, looking at me suspiciously.

"No, Canadian."

"Why are you giving it to me?"

"You'll see. But grab it quickly, or it'll melt."

Even though that garnered a raise of eyebrows from her, Seon-hyang reached out for the chunk of chocolate, and examined it for a few seconds with a curious expression, before placing it in her mouth. As soon as she tasted it, her eyes went wide, and she gestured rapidly to her mouth with both hands, and I laughed loudly, a surge of warmth in my chest.

"You like it?" I asked, and she nodded very fast, a wide smile growing on her face as she swallowed. Jesus Christ, seeing that smile after so much vitriol from her made everything I experienced for the last 5 days, so worth it. Her face was so wonderful when she was smiling, even though I could only see parts of it by the blazing fire light.

"From now on, you aren't Seo-hyang from Moranbong to me, you're Seo-hyang, the girl who likes chocolate." I smiled, and gave her another piece, which she eagerly grabbed, and looked up at me with a warm smile that could melt hearts alongside chocolates, and that's exactly what it did to mine. "Because that's something that _you_ decided. For _yourself_. And that's more important than what the Party decided for you."

"Will there be chocolate in China?" Seo-hyang asked, the curious expression returning to her face, and I laughed lowly, almost to myself. Seo-hyang seemed to notice that it was a happy laugh instead of a sad or angry one, so she smiled again.

"There is. When we get there, I'll buy you some more." I grinned, and Seo-hyang grinned back at me.

"I hope you two didn't tear each other apart!" Joon-ho shouted, and the two of us jumped, before scrambling to stand. Joon-ho was holding what appeared to be assorted berries and shrubbery, and Yeon-mi was lugging a large fish, which was either stolen or killed before they came back, because it was limp in Yeong-mi's hands.

"Are you two… getting along?" Yeong-mi asked as she walked to the fire, which had shrunk a little, but not by much, an amazed expression on her face.

"Yeah. What's the thing in your hands?" I asked, and Yeong-mi's face brightened.

"This? This is my biggest catch yet!" Yeong-mi grinned, showing it off, which caused Seon-hyang to inch away slightly, brushing against to me. With a clearer look, I could see that the fish was about the size of my forearm, and I gazed at it in surprise. "I caught it in the Taedong river while Joon-ho was looking for berries, so he doesn't believe that I caught it. But I did, I swear!"

"I believe you. Either way, we'll need this, so we can get some protein into our bodies." I said, stretching my arms slightly. "You should probably smoke it, smoking the meat makes it last longer." Yeong-mi nodded, and went into the tent to grab a pan.

"I'm surprised." Joon-ho smiled softly, putting the berries away in his bag, which he had gotten out while me and Yeong-mi were talking, and Seon-hyang had walked back to the tent as well. "You and Seon-hyang are only centimeters apart, and you two aren't going for each other's throats. What happened?"

"We had a talk." I replied, and Joon-ho raised his eyebrows at that. I sat down onto the dirt, and took a bite of the Aerobar, and felt a flicker of homesickness in my stomach with the chocolate. Joon-ho's eyes widened when he saw the chocolate.

"You have chocolate?" Joon-ho asked.

"Yes." I said, putting the wrapper in the fire, watching it crumple up and turn black. "However, we shouldn't eat it all right now, unless it's an emergency." Joon-ho slumped down, and crossed his arms.

"You can gorge yourself on chocolate all you want when we get to China." I said, and Joon-ho perked up. "But we have to be conservative now, or else we'll have nothing to eat."

"You've had it before?" I asked, and Joon-ho nodded rapidly. I watched Yeong-mi walk back from the tent with a knife and pan. "How? Seon-hyang never had it before, until tonight."

"Our next door neighbors were smugglers." He said, and I listened eagerly, hand on chin. "They'd usually sell the things they got from China, but sometimes, they'd give us things as gifts for not selling them out, like chocolate, and American movies and tv shows on DVDs dubbed in Korean."

"Oh?" I said, moving forward with a smile on my face. "What movies?"

"Uh… There was a movie called… Pretty Woman?" Joon-ho's face creased in thought. "I thought it was kinda dumb. My favorite DVD, though, was an episode of an American TV show called Friends." I threw my head back and laughed hard at that, which made Joon-ho raise his eyebrows.

"Why are you laughing?"

"You and my mom are going to get along so well." I gasped through laughing fits. "She loves Friends! She'll finally have someone willing to watch episodes with her." Joon-ho smiled widely at that, and we were silent for a few minutes.

"What happened to the smugglers?" I asked, half expecting Joon-ho to tense up, but instead, he continued to smile.

"One day, they just left. They brought nothing with them, their whole house left undisturbed, except for a few clothes." He said, and I frowned at that. "My dad thought the secret police had got to them, but about a year later, someone brought us a cell phone. Said someone had bought it for us, and smuggled it from China."

"They'd crossed the border, and made it all the way to Thailand." Joon-ho said, gesturing with his hands. "Told us that the government took them in, and now they had jobs, actual, well paying jobs! They invited all of us to join them, told us how easy it was to grow up there."

"What'd your dad say?" I asked, and Joon-ho looked thoughtfully.

"He said nothing, but I thought he might have been against leaving. I mean… This is where our ancestors lived and were buried." Joon-ho said quietly, and Yeong-mi peeked her head from behind the fire, and Joon-ho looked back at her. "They also have good class standing, even though they live in the countryside. We never starved during the famine."

"Yeong-mi, have you seen any foreign films?" I asked, and got a mere shake of the head from her, before she returned to her fish.

"Yeong-mi and Seon-hyang have always believed in the Party, so they never felt tempted to watch foreign films." Joon-ho sighed, looking into the fire. "I believed in the Party, for a time. Believed in all the stories they told us, like that Kim Jong-Il could change the weather, and that both Kims never defecated. Believed that North Korea was the purest nation, that everything was better here."

"When did you stop believing?" I asked, then backed up, conscious of the fact that I just asked a very personal question. "If you don't want to tell me, it's okay."

"No, I want to tell you. Even though I grew up watching smuggled material, and traded pictures of pokemon trainers with my friends, I didn't stop believing there." Joon-ho said, drumming lightly on his kneecap. "I really, truly, stopped believing after I found a balloon full of pamphlets while I was patrolling the DMZ my first year of deployment, snacks from the South, and a small thumbdrive, that I could stick into a computer, which one of my army friends had bought on the black market, and shared between us."

"On that little drive," Joon-ho said, gesturing an explosion with his hands. "Was an explosion of ideas and information. I learned stories about the South, how better it was than the North, stories from defectors, and most importantly, stories about other dictators, and how what they did upset their people."

"That last one, made me realize how bad the regime was." Joon-ho said, leaning in close to me. "In those stories, I saw parallels between the dictators, and the Kim family. All the puzzle pieces clicked together, and suddenly, I wasn't blind. I could see how bad it all was, how normal countries didn't blow up their civilians in public over watching television. However, I threw the USB into a river, so I wouldn't be caught."

"I found another balloon a year later, before I was transferred to the towns up in the north, to monitor smuggling activities." Joon-ho said, scratching his head. "This one had a story about a trainer about my age in the South who won the Pokemon League, and became Champion. When I heard that story… I was filled with a new purpose. I wanted to cross the border, and become a trainer, so I could be a Champion too! The first North Korean champion."

"Oh!" I said, pointing to him. "Park Min-ji!" I heard of Min-ji, she had won the championship a year prior, at only 17 years old, which made Joon-ho potentially only a year or two younger than me. And he was serving in the military, which meant me or Addy could have been serving in the military before we even went to college if we were born here, which was stupefying. Jesus Christ, this country is crazy.

"Yes." He nodded, before continuing.

"I witnessed some horrible things in those villages. Going without meals. Decaying corpses. Entire families being marched to prison camps. I had to watch a woman beg and sob for her life after my superior found she had a DVD player, but she couldn't pay for a bribe, so off to prison she went." Joon-ho said, covering his face. "I even watched one of my fellow servicemen execute a woman by machine gun. I can't wash the memory from my mind. I guess he couldn't either. A week later, we found him hanging in the barracks."

"However, through all that, all the horrors I saw there, I still hung onto that hope of defecting and becoming a trainer. Eventually, about 2 months ago, I was moved to Pyongyang, which I knew was my only shot at defecting. And then I met you."

"Then you met me." I echoed thoughtfully, and nodded slowly. Yeong-mi was gaping at Joon-ho from a distance. "Thank you for telling me this."

"No problem. It feels good to tell someone." Joon-ho said, stretching his arms.

"Why didn't you tell me, oppa?" Yeong-mi asked, and Joon-ho turned to her.

"I didn't want to hurt you, noona." Joon-ho said quietly. "I wanted you to stay safe. What if someone overheard us talking, and told the secret police? Both of us would be dead!"

"I know, I know… I just…" Yeong-mi sighed and shook her head. "I don't know." Joon-ho walked over to her, and sat down next to her.

"I'm sorry for not telling you." Joon-ho apologized, and I could see, through the light of the fire, tears starting to form in his eyes. "I should have. We should have planned to escape together."

"It's fine." Yeong-mi said, a smile on her face. "If you told me before, I would've probably reported you. Now… I couldn't."

"It'll all work out, okay?" Joon-ho said quietly, wrapping his arm across her shoulders. "We'll find a nice place to live, and we'll have lots of money."

"Yeah." Yeong-mi smiled, looking into the fire. "Loads of money." Joon-ho laughed loudly at that.

"How old are you two?" I asked, the question itching under my skin as I looked at them.

"I'm 21." Yeong-mi said, looking over at me.

"19." Joon-ho said, and I widened my eyes at that.

"You're 19?" I gasped, and Joon-ho nodded. "What age were you enlisted?"

"17."

I cursed loudly in Cantonese again, rubbing my face with my hands. Both Lees stared at me, with odd expressions on their faces.

"What?"

"You were still a kid, man! I'm only a year older than you!" I exclaimed. "What if war broke out? What if you had to fight?"

"It's normal here." Joon-ho said, messing with the creases in his button up uniform shirt, "We register when we're 14, go off when we're 17, and stay for 10 years. I never liked it, but I had to do it."

"I can't imagine that…" I said, looking at Joon-ho. He was barely an adult, and had experienced much more than I had ever imagined. "When I was 17, I was worrying about tests and stuff…"

"I would've preferred that over enlistment." Joon-ho said, smiling crookedly. I sighed, and looked up at the sky. Through the gaps in the trees, I could see the bright lights of the stars beaming down on the Earth. Hearing Joon-ho's story made my entire world feel small and insignificant, it paled in comparison to what he lived.

"I can't believe that you're technically an experienced soldier at only 19, Joon-ho." I laughed quietly. "I'm around your age, and I only know how to shoot a gun."

"You do?" Joon-ho said, widening his eyes.

"Yep. My uncle is a pretty big gun nut, so one day, when I was… about 13 I think? He took me to a shooting range in America, when I was visiting, and showed me the ropes." I laughed. "After we came back, my mom and my grandmother both yelled at him at the same time. I'm pretty sure if you walked a meter away you could hear them." Both Lees snickered at that, and we fell into a comfortable silence.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed." I said after a minute, standing up, my legs aching from sitting for so long. "Goodnight, you two." The two of them nodded and said goodnight, and I walked to the tent, and went in, zipping it up behind me.

Seon-hyang was laying down on her side in her blue colored sleeping bag. She appeared to be fast asleep, and I didn't bother to wake her, not wanting to risk upsetting her again. I retrieved Jessica, and laid down in my sleeping bag.

"Marie." Seon-hyang said suddenly, and I jumped slightly.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Why do you have pokemon?" Seon-hyang muttered, not turning to face me. "Only the US military has them."

"That's not true. A lot of people around the world have pokemon."

There was a pause.

"But… I learned that the imperialists used pokemon against us, during the war." Seon-hyang said softly. "That they burned cities down and destroyed anything in their path with them. So, I was taught, Kim Il-Sung banned pokemon so no one here could be hurt anymore, and to identify imperalists if they ever made it across the border."

"That's true. Pokemon were used by many countries in combat, for a very long time." I said, trying to summon all the things I learned in Pokemon History. "However, the UN banned any combat use of pokemon in wartime in 1979, now only non-lethal pokemon are allowed in combat zones."

"Non-lethal?"

"Healing."

"Huh." Seon-hyang sighed. "So, you aren't from the military? Really?"

"Far from it." I snorted. "I'd never make it through basic training. Too weak."

Another pause.

"I don't know what's true anymore." Seon-hyang breathed shakily, which caused my stomach to drop violently. "I don't know anything…"

"Hey, hey, hey... " I bolted out of my sleeping bag and crawled over to her shaking form, and rubbed her back lightly. "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay. It's not your fault, alright? You wouldn't have known." I continued to rub her back as she let out a shaky, near silent sob. I rubbed her back and whispered to her, until she fell asleep. After that, I crawled to my sleeping bag, slipped in, and fell asleep as well.

The next morning, we all got up, several hours apart, had breakfast, which was another can of lentil soup, which wasn't as bad as the vegetable soup I had prior. We packed up everything that we brought out, and I threw the ashes of our campfire into the nearby lake to cover our tracks, and we set off into the forest, and I let out my pokemon, giving a chance to roam about without getting spotted. I noticed, that Varaha preferred to walk by Joon-ho, swinging his head around as he walked, Nina guarded Yeong-mi, occasionally stopping, and looking around for people or pokemon, and Jessica demanded to be carried by Seon-hyang, who obliged. The two former musicians warmed up to the presence of my pokemon, and Seon-hyang seemed to enjoy holding and doting on Jessica, spoiling her to new lengths, and I had to warn Yeong-mi not to pet Nina because of her quills. Joon-ho was already cozy with the idea of raising pokemon as partners, so it wasn't surprising to see him stop and pet Varaha, which garnered him a happy snort from the Tepig. It was all really sweet to watch, and I forgave Seon-hyang for potentially making Jessica more of a brat, because she literally had no idea how to care for a pokemon. I swear, my heart grew at least 2 sizes bigger that day.

A few hours later, we reached the outskirts of one village, and Joon-ho stopped us, and looked around. It was a few tense minutes before Joon-ho spoke.

"This is my village." He said softly, and I quickly fumbled through my bag and retrieved all my pokemon, and I swear I caught a glimmer of disappointment on Seon-hyang's face. Joon-ho grabbed two large military caps for the two girls, and they eagerly grabbed them, and pulled them over their faces. We walked towards the village, and made it onto the dirt path towards the outskirts of town, where we were faced with a small group of building that looked like they were built in pre-Industrial Revolution Britain, with a lot less of the quaint charm. I stomached my shame, reasoning that this was all they had in a country shut off from the rest of the world, and buried my opinions, trying to have an open mind.

"Don't speak at all, alright?" Joon-ho whispered. "You have a Southern accent here, they'll be able to tell that you are a foreigner." I nodded solemnly, and followed the group closely, a bit self concious of my appearance.

We walked inward towards the town center, which involved passing by groups of people, who gawked at us. Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi tried to look less obvious, and huddled close to Joon-ho and me. I merely looked around the town as I walked. I didn't see starving people, or corpses, just normal, albeit raggedy looking, people going through the motions, buying and selling goods to each other. We walked further and further, before Joon-ho spotted someone in the distance, and ran towards them. suddenly acting like a little kid instead of the stern soldier he always seemed to be, and the three of us nervously followed behind.

"Hyung! Hyung!" Joon-ho shouted, and I felt a little better, at least Joon-ho knew the guy.

The man Joon-ho was running towards was another soldier, who appeared to be off duty, also with a shaved head, but was shorter than Joon-ho and with a longer, thinner face and warmer expression. However, when he saw Joon-ho, his face seemed to drop, and he stared at him, which made a large churning storm of anxiety and fear brew in my stomach.

"Hyung, how are you?" Joon-ho exclaimed, bouncing like a small child.

"G-Good…?" 'Hyung' said, blinking quickly. "Why are you home?"

"I'm going to see my family, with my cousin and her friends." Joon-ho grinned, and the other man looked… alarmed? "See you!"

We walked forward, and I swore I heard the other man say something, but I couldn't tell what he said. Joon-ho spotted his house, which was a decently sized building, not too different from the rest, with a green hatch roof and small dusty windows and a decent sized backyard full of dead grass and a small outhouse. Joon-ho quietly shook off his excitement, and went to open the front, wooden door.

The instant we walked in, I knew something was wrong. Really wrong. Super wrong. The house appeared to be as usual, a kind of small place, with a living room with a TV set, sofa and 2 pictures hanging of the Kims in a gold frame, typical for any house, a dining room with a basic wooden table and four wooden chair, a moderately sized kitchen, with a stove, some cabinets and a fridge, 2 bedrooms on the second floor, that looked similar, with a large bed, a desk, and a dresser in each, but all of this was lacking one single missing piece.

No one was there. No mother greeting us with tea. No father reading the newspaper in the living room.

Nobody.

And it was fucking frightening.

After we looked over every corner of the house for any sign of people, we walked back down to the first floor, where Joon-ho stood, looking dazed and in shock. He didn't move, and barely looked like he was breathing, and just stared straight ahead, eyes focusing on nothing. We'd only been on the road for 5 days, how could they catch up to us so fast? This was my fault, all my fault! If I had just went back to my parents back then...

"No." He said quietly, almost inaudible. "There's no way."

From the corner of my eye is saw Hyung, who was standing solemnly at the front of the house, barely in the doorway. I turned to him, and stared. All was silent, until the man suddenly said:

"Joon-ho." Which caused the teen to jump, and turn to him.

"Please don't tell me it's true." Joon-ho begged, tears forming in his eyes, and the man closed his eyes, and sighed.

"Last week," 'Hyung' said with a wavering tone, trying to keep his composure. "Something awful happened here. I don't know how you don't know already, but…"

"Your family defected to China."

* * *

 **notes**

 **-thailand is one of the three countries that will take north korean refugees that defectors can get to, giving them citizenship, the other is mongolia (which just flys them back to south korea but also involves crossing the gobi desert), and south korea which requires money, but helps you resettle and get a job. china is a different story for a later chapter.**

 **-social standing (songbun) is very, very, veeery important to north korean life, and is one of the more subtle human rights abuses. it decides where you live, what you do, and what freedoms you have. core class is the most trusted, wavering class is in the middle, and hostile class is the lowest of the low. hostile class are usually descendants of christian priests, landlords, merchants, or lawyers, anyone who could threaten the dynasty. wavering is normal people (proles if you will), and core class is party members and the elite. all three north korean characters are core class members (given that two live in pyongyang, where only the loyal live)**

 **-military first (songgun) is a belief in north korea, that is exactly what it says on the tin. military first. this is because the korean war has never actually "ended" in the technical sense. it is still going on to this very day, with the other sides occasionally flinging artillery at eachother. so north korea has always wanted a large military to """"make the bastards in the US and their puppets in the south fear our military might""""", which leads intoooooo**

 **-north korea's school systems can be either really intensive and decent, with one former defector saying she knew almost every country and where they were on the map, to fucking awful, with another saying she didn't know what canada was. however, one thing is true between these two reports, and that is that you are indoctrinated into the personailty cult at an alarmingly young age, and that you are taught to hate america, with "american bastard" being the worst insult between kids, and math being taught in problems such as (these are legit problems, i've seen multiple defector stories with similar ones, so im not fucking with you) "** **During the Fatherland Liberation War (North Korea's official name for the Korean War) the brave uncles of Korean People's Army killed 265 American imperialist bastards in the first battle. In the second battle they killed 70 more bastards than they had in the first battle. How many bastards did they kill in the second battle? How many American imperialist bastards did they kill all together?" (source sickchirpses), which is actually kind of funny if you have a sense of humor like mine** **. however, you have to understand that we bombed pyongyang so hard that they had to fucking rebuild from the ground up, so they at least have a reason for hating us, and that there is no really "good" side in this, which is just what happens in war.**

 **-the song marie was singing was 2NE1's "Gotta Be You" (i'm still sad minzy left)**

 **aaand thats it! i honestly thought i wrote more than 5,000 words, but w/e. anyway more development, more plot, and a cliff hanger. wrow**

 **anyway, im probably gonna miss the next update, becuase i am getting swallowed by homework, and am struggling to eke out a niche to work on this. sorry, but im not failing chem, not again.**

 **nyway im probably going to nothing much this weekend, other than finish my french, do some chem work, and play a ton of overwatch. i'll also be trying to get my 10 year old 200 dollar pc to work for more than 6 minutes at a time before the motherboard crashes and beeps loudly, so i can play blazeblack, which my previous save file had marie's team of pokemon before it corrupted and made me start again (why god)**

 **marie's team**

 **varaha - tepig M, nina - nidoran F, jessica - clefairy F**

 **joon-ho's team**

 **n/a**

 **yeongi-mi's team**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's team**

 **n/a**

 **please fav and review, it means a lot to me.**

 **a plus tard**


	6. Am I the only living soul around?

**author's note:**

 **sorry for not posting for 2 weeks, been busy with shit in school, had a breakdown over a chem grade, and got and lost writers block, but i prevailed after all, and wrote the thing down, and then some. here we gooo**

 **chapter title is HandClap by fritz and the tantrums**

* * *

"What?" Joon-ho whispered, eyes wide in disbelief. I wanted to say something, to Joon-ho or the other man, but because of my accent, I stayed quiet. Still, this was all so sudden, that I couldn't wrap my head around it. Joon-ho said that his family had no real reason to defect across the border, and yet, his family wasn't there? I looked behind me, to see the two girls sharing similar expressions of shock.

"You father called sick a week ago." The man continued, crossing his arms. "The hospital thought nothing of it, until he didn't come in at all this week. They sent us, fearing the worst, but we found the house as it is now. No bodies, but some tell tale things were missing, like clothes, and food."

"Did they…" Joon-ho said in a shaky voice, before trailing off, then rephrased his question. "How do you know?"

"The government hasn't found their... you know, and they haven't been sent back by the Chinese government, to my knowledge." The man said, playing with his jacket nervously. "It's practically certain now."

"Oh." Joon-ho said quietly, looking down at his shoes. He looked like a scared little boy, and I wanted to comfort him, tell him that we would look for his parents when we crossed the border. I'd heard stories from my relatives still living in Macau of what the government in China did to defectors, calling them 'economic migrants', and deporting them to torture, prison camp and death. If that happened to Joon-ho's family, or my companions, I would never forgive myself.

"You should probably follow them." The man whispered, trying to avoid getting overheard by anyone. "The last I heard, they were sending soldiers to Pyongyang looking for you. If you're here…" Joon-ho flinched, and I could see, from my limited viewpoint, that he was cringing in fear.

My stomach lurched violently in fear, and I covered my mouth so I couldn't say something, or make a sound. This was not happening. The government is not after me. This was not happening. Not happening. I walked backwards, until I hit the wall with a silent thump muffled by my jacket, and covered my face with sweaty palms. Snap out of it. Snap out of it. Snap out of it. I fell to the floor, and curled up in a ball, trying to be as small and quiet as I could be.

Joon-ho and his friend continued to talk, but it just sounded like garbled sounds to me. My brain was more focused on the fact the the North Korean government was _after me._ I was going to die. I wasn't going make it home, wasn't going to see Addy, wouldn't see my parents. I was going to die alone, in an unknown country, without my parents- without _anyone_ knowing where I was. I'd be shot with a machine gun. I'd be hung. I'd be blown up with an anti aircraft gun, and the pieces would be sent to my parents. Joon-ho would die. Yeong-mi would die. Seon-hyang would die. It would all be my fault, if they had never met me, they would've been safe from the regime, but blind. All my pokemon would die in equally horrible ways. Panic rushed through my bloodstream, controlled my very being. I wasn't strong enough, couldn't lead 3 defectors across the border. I was barely 20, still a child, and yet. Yet…

"Marie?"

Yet I had to be strong. Had to lead. I had more experience than the three of them, due to circumstance. They looked up to me, and I felt mixed things about it. Pride, and fear of leading them the wrong way. I was an awful leader.

"Marie."

I then realized that I was sobbing inaudibly, tears and snot running down my face. They'd notice the fact that I was crying, I thought to myself, how fucking embarrassing would that be? You're a failure, They have a failure for a leader. I tried to compose myself.

"Marie!" Yeong-mi shouted, and I snapped my head up to look up at the three North Koreans hovering over me, who all softened a little at the sight of my tear strewn face. I rubbed my face, trying to wipe away my tears, and I stood up on wobbly feet, which caused Joon-ho to rush over to stabilize my shaky form. The man had left, so now I could speak to the three of them, and I took a deep breath in, and let it out in a whimper.

"How far from the border are we?" I slurred, continuing to rub at my eyes.

"We're only about 5 hours away." Yeong-mi replied, and I sighed in relief. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just panicked." I said, shaking my head to let my fear out, and I took a deep breath, running my hands down my face. "You all need to get out of your uniforms and get rid of them, though, because it'll be like we planted large, bright signs on our backs."

"Into what?" Seon-hyang asked with a unimpressed expression in her eyes, crossing her arms.

"I have some clothes for you and Seon-hyang, but they'll be a little baggy." I said, gesturing at my bag. "Cause they're my extras."

"Me?" Joon-ho asked, slightly bemused.

"See if your parents left any of your clothes behind. If not, I got stuff for you too." With that, Joon-ho climbed up the stairs into his old room.

Sure enough, Joon-ho's parents had been kind enough to leave some of his stuff behind, which meant he didn't have to look like a 4 year old wearing his father's clothes. I passed my clothes out to the musicians, and all three went upstairs to change in private. That left me alone, in the first floor, with my thoughts. To avoid confronting the fact that I had a panic attack in front of all three of them, I walked across the wooden floors of the house, and turned on the TV. Instead of like, North Korean Seinfeld, I was met with two soldiers on a stage, one male, one female, doing what I thought at first was a comedy skit, and I was mildly excited, because I needed some jokes in my life right about now. However, it evolved into one of the most boring programs I have ever watched in my life, with garbage slapstick humor sprinkled on top of monologues about food production. I sat on the sofa, with my hands on the sides of my head, just staring at the TV as the male soldier went on about potatoes, and slowly losing my mind.

"Marie!" Yeong-mi exclaimed, forcing me out of my trance, climbing down the stairs, and posing for me. "How do I look?" She was wearing the black t-shirt I got when my dad dragged me to a Toto concert in Vancouver, which hung to her upper legs. My black skirt, that reached up to her knees (mid thigh for me), and blacke tights fit her decently, not really tight, but enough so they wouldn't fall down at a moments notice, with a little bit of fabric bunched at the feet. I smiled at her as she walked into the room, and looked over at the TV.

"Oooh! Watching "It's so funny", are you?" Yeong-mi said, and I gave her a withering look. The name was almost as painful as actually watching the show.

"So it's supposed to be funny?" I asked, and she nodded, and laughed as the female soldier enthusiastically told a joke.

"You don't think it's funny?"

"It's juvenile." I said, holding my chin up with my right hand, and Yeong-mi looked at me in surprise. "The jokes are vapid and boring, and rely on people falling over instead of well set up jokes. I've seen better." Yeong-mi just shrugged, and continued to watch the show, and I reached into my bag, and tore at the fish jerky from yesterday with my teeth, and determined that it needed salt.

"Are you really okay?" Yeong-mi asked, and I glanced over at her, to see her staring at me in concern. I threw my head back for a moment, and wished the earth would swallow me whole out of shame, before I got my act together.

"I'm a little frightened, but it'll be fine." I said between bites of fish jerky. "We're almost to the border, and then we'll be alright."

"You're scared? Why?"

"Yeong-mi." I said, any sign of amusement leaving my voice. "If the government catches us, gets a hold of my passport or my pokemon, they'll torture me to get me to confess to espionage, and then kill me. They might do the same to you, Joon-ho, and Seon-hyang, for 'fraternizing with enemy'."

"They've probably already discovered that your room is completely empty, that two of their elite musicians have suddenly disappeared from their rooms, and connected the dots." I continued, wringing my hands together. "I'm assuming that you two are very important to the regime, and they wouldn't want you to defect, 'cause it'd be a sign of weakness on their part."

"I believe so." Yeong-mi said quietly, and I nodded. "The Supreme Commander hand picked only the most elite to join Moranbong." I caught a glint of pride in her voice, like that serving the Party and being handpicked by the younger Kim to play the drums in his band was her greatest accomplishment in life. I couldn't bring myself to be anything more than slightly unnerved.

"Don't call him that." I muttered quietly, and Yeong-mi widened her eyes at me.

"Why?"

"People will stare at you if you call him that." I retorted, crossing my arms, and tucking myself into my jacket. "In China."

"Because they'll know I'm from North Korea, and that I have pride in my leader?" Yeong-mi snapped at me, and I took a deep breath in. "Just because we're leaving North Korea, doesn't mean I won't be loyal to the Supreme Commander."

"It's not that." I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. "If you say that in China, you could be caught by the police, deported, and either sent to a labor camp or executed, to maintain decent relations with Pyongyang. " Yeong-mi's eyes widened at that, and her mouth dropped open.

"That's why I'm afraid." I muttered, and Yeong-mi put her hand on my shoulder. "Because of your class standing, you could do some serious damage. The Party doesn't want that to happen, so they're probably after us. If they find out we left the country, they'll contact the Chinese government, and get them to search for us. We need to get from the border, into Beijing as fast as humanly possible, so we can lose them."

"We'll be okay." Yeong-mi said softly, rubbing my shoulder, and I laid my head on hers, closed my eyes, and let my breathing relax. I rested my eyes for a bit, while Yeong-mi giggled at the TV show, before I jolted up at the sound of slow footsteps. I looked over to see an embarrassed Seon-hyang practically cowering by the stairs. She had my navy blue long sleeved sweatshirt (which was intentionally baggy on me) practically draping her upper half, sleeves hanging with no hands in sight, and had managed to get my also intentionally large sweatpants to fit around her waist, and tucked them into her boots, making her look smaller than she was. I laughed loudly as she slowly walked down the stairs, glaring at me all the way down. She had lost her threatening appearance in the well fitted uniform (which a more primal part of me missed), and instead looked like a sullen little kid.

"Stop it!" Seon-hyang stammered as she walked forward, a splotchy blush across her face as I began to wheeze. "Not f-funny!"

"I gotta say." I said between loud coughs, as I regained my composure. "I don't think anyone in China is going to think you were a member of the fourth largest military in the world." Seon-hyang pouted at that, but said nothing, instead she watched the TV in front of her, before she slipped in between Yeong-mi and I. I stiffened for a second, before I slumped onto her side in exhaustion, and continued to watch the show, a little less bored now that I had 2 other people with me. I felt myself nodding off, and tried my best to stay awake, so I was ready to go when Joon-ho came down. However, I ended up closing my eyes, but not really falling asleep, just resting.

"What are we going to do when we cross the border?" Yeong-mi broke her silence, and I snapped awake, and glanced over at her.

"We're still going to have to walk and camp out for a few days to get to Beijing, try to find if Joon-ho's family is still in China, but after that, we'll be staying in hotels until I beat all of the Chinese gyms." I said, stretching my legs out. "During that, I'll get you guys refugee status in Canada."

"You've never told us what Canada is like, though." Yeong-mi says, and her face anticipates an explanation. She has a valid point, I thought to myself, they've probably never heard a country described.

"The whole country, or where I live?"

Yeong-mi looks thoughtful.

"I guess… Where you live?"

"I live on an island in the Pacific Ocean, only about a 100 miles away from the Canadian mainland." I said, and drank up the amazement on both girl's faces. "It's mainly a fishing village, and a lot of the people there grew up together. My parents didn't live there as kids, though."

"Where did they live before?" Yeong-mi asked.

"My dad was born in a city on the mainland, he moved there when he was 11, because my grandfather got a job as a professor at a university in a city nearby. My mom was born in Macau, but moved to America when she was 9 or so. Then she met my dad when he traveled across America to challenge their gyms, and moved back to where I live now, to have me."

"The last time I was there, we were in the middle of a snowstorm. The whole island was a bright white, and it was so cold, I could barely stand outside." I said, gesturing with my hands. "But it's nicer and more beautiful in the summer, you'll probably like it. If not, you can move anywhere else in the world."

"Anywhere?" Seon-hyang asked, looking at me in amazement.

"Yeah, literally anywhere."

Both girls seemed bewildered by this, looking over at me with shock written on their faces. I was about to explain that in the outside world, you could move anywhere you pleased, before I heard Joon-ho walk downstairs, dressed in a white long sleeved shirt, and black pants, making him look like a normal person. With that, I got up to turn the TV off, shoved all the uniforms into my bag and we headed out of the house. We avoided parading ourselves through the town, walking from the house to the darkness and secrecy of the nearby forest, which shrouded our new 'capitalist' appearance. I didn't release my pokemon this time, the reason being part paranoia that someone would spot them, and part that I didn't want them to get hurt when we crossed the border.

A few hours in, we had followed the forest into a large clearing of yellow grass and hilly ground, on top of which you could see a large mountain in the distance. Fat snowflakes drifted from the sky, and I found myself stopping to enjoy the view, which caused Joon-ho, who was leading us to the border, to stop and look back.

"C'mon." He said, impatience lacing his voice, and I crawled down the hill. The two girls followed me down, but their eyes seemed to be fixed upon the mountain. I squinted at it, trying to determine if there was something interesting about it, other than the fact that it was a rather large mountain.

"Oppa." Seon-hyang asked, and I turned my head to look over my shoulder at her. "Is that Mount Paektu?" Joon-ho nodded, and I turned to him, mustering up at the confusion I could fit on my face.

"Paektu is a mountain on the Chinese border." Joon-ho said, and I made a low 'oh' noise. "It has a lot of significance here, the first ruler of Korea, Dangun, was born here."

"Well, that means we're close to the border." I mumbled, and Joon-ho nodded. Seon-hyang snuck up from behind me, and locked arms, and I tried not to blush as I looked over to her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm cold and tired, Maaarie." Seon-hyang whined, like a small child, and I laughed a little. "Wanna stop."

"We can't stop, but I can give you my coat." I said, before I froze, remembering the gun in my pocket. What if Seon-hyang hurt herself with the gun? I quickly looked around me for a place to get rid of the gun, and saw a river nearby.

"Joon-ho."

"Mm."

"I have to get rid of something I got in my boat."

"What is it?" He asked, and I showed him the gun, making sure not to put my finger on the trigger, which caused Yeong-mi to jump back.

"You had a gun?!" Yeong-mi yelled, and I felt a flash of anxiety come over me.

"Y-Yeah, but it came with everyone's boat." I stuttered, overcome with fear that I would lose all of my companions, and be alone until China. "I forgot I had it. If you want, you can look through my bag, to prove that I'm not a sleeper agent. I'm sorry, pleasedonthateme." My head fell, and I swallowed, trying not to cry, but slowly looked up as Yeong-mi laughed.

"I don't hate you, Marie." Yeong-mi said, smiling warmly, causing me to sigh in relief, and walking over to me. "I know you aren't a sleeper agent, I watched you walk face-first into a tree. I'm just… shocked you had a gun on you. I don't think it suits you well."

"Oh." I said, quietly, as I fidgeted with my hands. Joon-ho cleared his throat, and I looked over at him.

"Go on." He said, pointing to the river, and I dashed over, to the banks of the river, which was a fast moving set of rapids. I stood for a second, and without hesitation, I flung the gun into the river, watched it fly and land in a tiny splash in the raging waters, and jogged back to the group. Now, that I didn't have to worry about Seon-hyang hurting herself, I gave her my coat, which she snuggled into, and locked our arms again.

"Sorry," I smiled sheepishly, and Seon-hyang held me closer. "Should've gotten rid of it in Pyongyang."

"It's fine." Yeong-mi said, waving it off. "As long as you weren't planning to use it."

"I… Couldn't." I said quietly, looking away. "I couldn't do that, to any of you. To anyone." I looked over at Yeong-mi, who was smiling at me.

"I know." She replied softly. "I know."

The rest of the walk to the border was silent, a comfortable silence. We had walked from the clearing to a large green pine forest that surrounded the Paektu mountain, when we talked next, where I spotted significantly more pokemon than in the forests towards the center of North Korea. Most of them were birds, like large flocks of Pidgeot flying above us, or the occasional Hoot-Hoot. There were some ground dwelling pokemon as well, like a group of Nidoran and Pikachu. I wanted to catch at least one, but I remembered that I'd have to lure them across the border, and I decided against it. Too much hassle.

"You're not going for any the pokemon here?" Joon-ho asked me, smiling slightly.

"It's illegal to capture pokemon from here." I said, and Joon-ho's face fell. "Some British dude caught one a few years ago, got banned from participating in any gyms, and went to prison. Pokeballs have data that lists the location where the pokemon was caught, and his was like… 'NO DATA' I think."

"Besides, there's probably similar pokemon on the Chinese side." I continued, watching as a lone Pikachu walked towards us, before darting away when Yeong-mi stepped closer. "Ones that won't get me arrested."

"Ah." Joon-ho said, frowning. "Guess that's the same for me, too."

"Yeah, as soon as we cross that border, you're like the rest of us." I joked, lightly jabbing his ribs. Joon-ho smiled, but then his face contorted in thought.

"Shouldn't we get pokemon of our own?" Joon-ho asked, and I glanced over at him.

"I mean, I guess you should. What's your reasoning, though?"

"To blend in. We could be deported if we don't blend in."

"Okay, yes we do!" I said loudly. "I could catch you guys one, or we could buy a few eggs in the next city."

All of them agreed that they were fine with either via a quick shrug. We fell into another comfortable silence until we pushed through the disappearing pine forest and reached a large tract of what would be river, but was frozen over, and with an inch of snow shrouding it. I immediately pictured myself slipping and falling on the mixture of slippery ice and slippery snow, and busting a leg, and my anxiety flared up again. 20 years of living in a place where water almost always froze over had given me an almost chronic fear of ice, having slipped and fallen a few too many times scrambling to school.

"This is the Yalu river." Joon-ho said, turning to me, and I gave him a concerned look. "It's the border between Korea and China."

"We're going to have to cross it, aren't we?" I asked, and Joon-ho nodded. I took a deep breath in, gathering all my courage together. Joon-ho walked to the bank of the river, and slowly stepped on the river, making sure the ice was thick enough. Thankfully, the river did not crack and plunge Joon-ho to his death as I worried it would, and he let out a small cheer. He turned to us, and gestured for us to come. Yeong-mi was quick to follow, and the two were soon becoming smaller and smaller on the horizon. My brain was trying to find an alternative to walking onto the ice, and I turned to look at a confident Seon-hyang, which gave me sliver of calm in my mind, overrun by fear. Seon-hyang climbed onto the ice, beginning to make her way across the Yalu, and I clutched her tightly as something to keep upright, whimpering all the while. Instead of complaining about me dragging her down, and yell at me for crying like a child, Seon-hyang patted my head reassuringly, and quietly, began to sing to me, a soft song about going to Mount Paektu. I closed my eyes, lost focus of where I was, and only paid attention to her voice, her wonderful voice. I held her close, so I wouldn't lose her, and when I opened my eyes, we were on the ground in China, the Lees standing nearby. I spun around, looking for guards or cameras, but found nothing suspicious as far as the eye could see. Some dramatic border crossing this was.

"Well… that sure was something." I groaned, beginning to walk forward while still holding onto Seon-hyang, who didn't mind the attention at all, into another pine forest. "Thought it'd be more… memorable?"

"I'm surprised." Joon-ho said, looking around. "At the DMZ, there are tons of guards, here… there's none."

"Well, it's best we don't question it. If there were guards, we would've had to bribe them to continue and that'd-" Yeong-mi said, messing with her hair, before she stopped, at the sight of something. Joon-ho walked over to her as well, and stopped dead in his tracks, and let out a loud gasp.

"What's up, you guys?" I said nervously, and Seon-hyang and I walked over to them. I peeked over their shoulders, to spot a tiny Magby standing in the middle of the forest, staring at the two cousins with wide curious eyes, before it began to walk towards Joon-ho, stop, and then stare again. I pulled out my phone, switched to the iDex app, and changed the voice language to Korean, before letting the app identify the pokemon in front of Joon-ho.

"Magby, the Live Coal pokemon." iDex said, in its typical robotic monotone, which caused Joon-ho and Yeong-mi to visibly jump. "It is found in volcanic craters. Its body temperature is over 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, so don't underestimate it." The Magby merely cocked its head at us, and walked towards Joon-ho, stopping in front of him, and making a noise that sounded somewhat like a quack.

"Probably came down from Paektu. What a long way for a little guy." I said, squinting at it. I'd never seen a wild Magby before, only in books, because of its rare location and the fact that there were no big volcanoes in the Canada where I lived that weren't completely dead, having erupted way before my family even existed, and it was very exciting. I also noticed how the red duck-esque pokemon didn't bolt when I moved, and was staring intently at Joon-ho. That would mean…

"Marie, when a pokemon walks in front of you like that." I remembered my dad saying to me, watching with my mother, who was clutching onto his arm nervously, because her 11 year old daughter was standing in front of a _poison type for Christ's sake_ , when I was a little girl standing in a park near Ithaca, staring in front of the light blue Nidoran in front of me, who was staring intently at me, not caring about the squealing Cleffa by my side, who was desperately trying to protect me. "It wants you to catch it, that's why it isn't putting up a fight." I remember a crowd of kids and parents, and regular people surrounding us, staring at me, parents holding their children close.

"Oh." I had said, bending down, conscious of the pale yellow dress I was wearing, to look at the Nidoran, who didn't even flinch, and just moved closer, until there was barely an inch between us. "You want to be my friend, don't you?" The rabbit pokemon squeaked happily in reply, and I laughed, before my dad cleared his throat, causing me to turn to him.

"Here's what you have to do…"

Joon-ho turned to me, as I shook off that memory, beaming and very excited. I knew what he was going to say before he said it.

"Marie, can you catch this one for me?" Joon-ho begged, and I smiled, fishing for a spare pokeball in my bag. "Please?"

"I don't know Joon-ho." I said, and Joon-ho frowned, cocking his head, before I handed him the pokeball. "I think it wants you to catch it." Joon-ho looked at me in confusion.

"I-I don't know how, though." He said, trying to give me the pokeball back.

"I'll walk you through it." I said, and Joon-ho nodded. "First, sit down in front of it." Joon-ho did that, and the Magby didn't dash away, and made what sounded like a happy noise, and playfully hit Joon-ho's leg.

"Okay, that's good." I said, and Joon-ho looked back up at me, showing a gleeful smile, and the Magby did the same. "Now, show it the pokeball. Hold it out in front of you." Joon-ho slowly held out the pokeball, the words 'it's body temperature is over 1,100 degrees fahrenheit' repeating in his head. I watched the Magby for any bad reactions, like biting or kicking, which would mean, according to what my dad told me, I would have to release a pokemon to fight it to protect Joon-ho from being burnt alive. However, the Magby just patted the pokeball, and looked at Joon-ho expectantly.

"Okay, good job Joon-ho." I said, and he giggled loudly, like a little boy. "It wants to be caught. Press the white button on the front." I watched as a flash of red light overcame the Magby, and the pokeball shook in Joon-ho's hands, one, two, three times, and I held my breath, this being the most dramatic part, both to witness and do, before an audible click came from the ball. Joon-ho gingerly stood up, and his hands shook as he held the pokeball, and Yeong-mi stared at him, visibly amazed. I clapped, causing the two others to begin clapping, and Joon-ho laughed loudly.

"I… I can't believe I did it!" Joon-ho said, and I could see the happy tears in his eyes, begging to be let out. I patted his shoulder, and grinned until my face hurt. "My first pokemon…"

"Congrats, Joon-ho!" I said, clapping quietly. "Now you're one step closer to becoming Champion! Woo!" Joon-ho smiled with me.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here." Joon-ho replied, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "Thank you."

"No problem."

We began to walk further, towards an opening where I could spot a city street, Joon-ho was still jittery from the capture, chattering away to Yeong-mi, and Seon-hyang was pretty cheerful herself. My dad would be so proud of me, wait.. my dad… I looked at my phone, and saw that I finally had service, instead of none while in North Korea. That meant… I needed to call my parents right away. They're probably scared out of their minds, I thought, I haven't had contact with them for almost a whole week… I went to my contacts, and immediately called home, which caused Seon-hyang to stop walking, and look over at me. I listened through the beeping of the phone, as it reached Canada, and I felt my stomach drop as I heard someone pick up the phone.

"Marie?" My mother said in her East Coast accent, sounding very nervous, which caused my eyes to water, and my hands to shake. "Is that you?"

"Yeah." I said, playing with the fabric of my shirt, ready to be chewed out for not calling. I really wanted my mother to comfort me about this. all of this, hug me and tell me that I did nothing wrong, and how everything was going to be okay in the end, but I swallowed my tears, and took my punishment. I deserve it, I told myself, I deserve it

"Thank God!" My mother exclaimed breathlessly, and immediately, her tone became angry. "Young lady, you haven't called us or the island for a whole week! Do you understand how scared I was? They still haven't found your boat! Where _were_ you?" I took a deep breath in, and let it out loudly.

"North Korea."

* * *

 **notes**

 **\- its so funny is a real tv show, and is actually one the longest running comedy shows in the world. unfortunately no one has subbed the videos into english, and the little korean i know is taught in a south korean (seoul) dialect, which has some differences with the pyongyang dialect, so i cant give any more context beyond the fact that its 1. not satire 2. kinda boring. there used to be a video about this show, which featured a defector talking about it, but unfortunately, it appears have disappeared off of the face of the earth. heres the link:** **watch?v=BLfvsDurxvg**

 **\- now for the big question many have asked themselves: why do they north koreans basically worship the Kim dynasty? there's actually some rational explanation for this, but its because of 2 things. the first will take us back to 1910, when japan colonized korea. japan supressed korean culture, taught them japanese instead of korean, and told them that they were a subset of the japanese, which were the purest race. japan's imperal army collasped in 1945 at the end of the 2nd world war, with the north taken over by the russians, south by the us blah blah blah you know what happens next. however, japan left some of their ideals behind when they fled, such as the religious worship of their leader, and the belief that they are the purest race, which is left behind in north korea. the other part is confucianism, which is present on both sides of the DMZ. confucianism is basically a system of respect for others, with your mother, father, and elders at the top, also known as filial piety. filial piety shows its face in the representations of the party and the Kims in propoganda, with the Kims being protrayed as the father, and the Party as the mother. thus, when kim jong-il died in 2011, and pyongyang's citizens mourned en masse, a lot of people said that the mourning was "obviously fake", but thats not true. what they were doing on the streets were forms of confucian mourning practiced frequently with koreans on both sides of the border. so yeah, thats potentially why.**

 **\- between the 2 weeks i've been writing this chapter, i found a stream link for KCNA, north korea's main television network. reportedly, the stream is from a department of the south korean government, which is kind of odd honestly, because they have laws against the spread of north korean materials, which might have been useful in like... 1970, but should really just be repealed, because No One is going to be 'seduced' by that shit. anyway, the first thing i noticed about KNCA is that it's NEVER ON. never. i turned it on as i wrote this and was met with color bars and a loud beeping noise. through luck and the power of friendship, i managed to watch an hour of north korean television, and i can confirm that its horseshit. i watched a news report that went on for thirty years, a little song, and a drama that was in black and white. look and you will find it.**

 **anyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyway... sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter. i had trouble trying to pace how long the foursome would stay in north korea, but i decided to end it, because i thought 5 chapters was good enough for them. also like... school... and work and stuff. also the flashback to catching nina was added during my study hall, and the way she caught her, and therefore, how joon-ho caught his magby is just a headcanon :).**

 **if you want my honest opinon, i think north korea's recent missile tests are just pointless saber waggling that will just set off japan+sk+us even more, so that they aren't focusing on the fact that people are suffering in nk because of recent catastrophic flooding. i've heard idiots say that we should bomb north korea because they're a "threat", which is not true... at all. the main reason why north korea is always doing bullshit like conducting nuclear tests, is because of songun. songun tells the people of nk that they are always at war with the whole world, to keep them loyal. the reactions of the us is just proof for them. too bad that they didn't get the memo that the us is having the craziest election ever, and that south korea is in the midst of the craziest presidential scandal in known history that involves corruption, the past death of a dictator and his wife, and the current president being basically controlled by a pagan shaman that believes nk will collaspe next year bc the spirits told her so (and no. im not fucking lying).**

 **i think there will be less of a wait for the next chapter, because i've already started it. however i'm going to end up spending my weekend doing chem stuff.**

 **marie's pokemon**

 **varaha - tepig m, nina - nidorina f, jessica - clefairy f**

 **joon-ho's pokemon**

 **unnamed - magby m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon**

 **n/a**


	7. Wherever you want to go, we'll go

**authors note**

 **salut and happy sun and moon day. im working tomorrow, so im going to be wiped by 4pm, and probably wouldn't post this otherwise lol. so here we go.**

 **anywaaay please fav, follow, and review!**

 **chapter title is from run by exo m**

 **enjoy**

* * *

"Excuse me?" My mother asked, her voice wavering slightly in tone. I shut my eyes, and said a silent prayer to any deity looking down at me, to pity me and let this all past, for Christ's sake.

"I landed in North Korea." I said, and heard my mother breathlessly curse in Cantonese on the other line. The Lees had turned around to face me, staring in confusion, but I couldn't say anything to them. "I stripped the identification off of the boat so I wasn't caught."

"Marie, please tell me you weren't arrested." My mother said, sounding close to tears, and I felt my heart do a nauseating slam into my intestines. "Please tell me you aren't about to be executed."

"I'm not. I made it to China." My mother sighed audibly. "I'm safe."

"How?"

"I walked."

"You _walked?_ " My mom said incredulously.

"I walked from Pyongyang to China." My mother cursed again.

"Alone or with someone else?" My mother asked, and I could hear my dad in the background, asking my mom what was wrong. She's probably up, pacing around the bedroom, because of the time difference. I feel guilt pooling in my belly from waking her up with the frightening news of her daughters misadventure to a heavily policed military state with mediocre relations with Canada.

"I'm traveling with 3 defectors." I said, looking at the three of them, who were still staring at me, now with expressions of fear. "One boy, two girls. My age."

"What part of China are you all in right now?" I ran over towards the street, and looked for a sign listing the city I was in, and the rest of the group followed me. Unlike North Korea, this border city in China had tons of people, modern buildings jutting up from the ground and leering down, with signs and brands both in English and Chinese, and a significant population of trainers and their pokemon, and I found myself getting swallowed in a crowd, and grasping blindly for my companions, who had stayed close behind me, bewildered by the sights in front and around them.

"...Dandong."

"Are you staying, or going to Beijing?"

"Beijing."

"Your father and I will meet you there. Are you going to walk?" My mother asked, and I could hear my dad again, calling my mother's name.

"I guess? The three people I'm traveling with don't know any form of Chinese, and I don't want to risk getting them caught and sent to their doom."

"You could still get caught walking." My mother said. "It's like sending sheep straight into the tiger's mouth, you know?"

"Yes… I do. I just think it's better if we walk to Shenyang." I said, fidgeting with my fingers. "I'll buy a map, and some food, and then we'll get on a bus." My mother sighed.

"Fine." She said, and I pictured her crossing her arms. "Stay safe, and stick with your group, okay?"

"Love you." I said, overcome with homesickness as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over my head.

"Love you too." My mom replied, and hung up. I turned my phone off, and looked at the three of them, and gestured for them to walk.

"That was my mom. My parents are going to meet us in Beijing." I said, as I looked around. "We're going to walk to Shenyang, and then I'll cough up some money for bus tickets." Joon-ho, noticing the people walking around with their pokemon beside them, or carrying them if they were small enough, released his Magby, who was very curious about its surroundings, and held it in his arms as we walked.

"How are you going to get money?" Yeong-mi asked, and I shrugged, before a street vendor in front of a large retail building, with stores for clothes and cosmetics, caught my eye, and I whipped my head around, and approached it. An older man sat in a metal foldable chair, with North Korean money, and books, and that's when I knew how I was going to get us money.

"Want a souvenir from North Korea, miss?" The older man asked me, which strengthened my discovery, and I politely said no thanks, before I walked over to the three defectors.

"Do any of you have money from North Korea on you?" I asked, fiddling with my bag.

"I have a lot left over." Joon-ho said, cocking his head. "Why?" I looked over, and found a nearby souvenir shop, and pointed to it.

"We're going to sell it." I said, leading the three across the street, and in front of the white, slightly run down building, with a giant, blue sign that read, in full "DANDONG TOURIST COMPANY", in both English and Chinese. The four of us walked in the mechanical doors, being met with a loud mechanical chime, which caused the North Koreans to jump. The shop was nothing I hadn't seen in Vancouver's Chinatown before, a store with tables and shelves stuffed to the brim dedicated to small goodies, DVDs, tea sets, statues, toys, and other things that were vaguely Asian, not entirely Chinese. However, almost everything in the store was dedicated to North Korea, books, clothes, cigarettes, alcohol, toys, even DVDs! We found ourselves looking around, amazed at the things around us, before we gathered our bearings, and I walked over to the young woman, about our age, with long hair in a ponytail and a thin face in a perpetual smile, manning the cash register, who bowed at me and said hello.

"Hi!" I greeted in Cantonese, smiling warmly. Joon-ho stood behind me, but the two girls were looking around the shop in curiosity. "Could we sell you some North Korean goods?" The woman nodded, and I turned to Joon-ho.

"I'll hold him." I said, and Joon-ho passed me his Magby, who didn't mind being in my arms, and was surprisingly heavy, I guess Joon-ho had his military training to help him carry the little guy, then bent down to get the money out of his bag. The cashier smiled at the little guy in my arms, and cooed at it like a baby.

"I've never seen a Magby this close before!" The cashier smiled, and the Magby made a happy quack. "What's his name?" I turned to Joon-ho.

"What's his name?" I whispered, and he glanced up at me.

"Ggwek-ggwek." He said breathlessly, and I rolled my eyes at the name. That was like naming a Litten 'Meow'.

I repeated that to the cashier, who looked confused, but smiled anyway. I shrugged in response.

"Are you all from Guangdong?" The cashier asked, as Joon-ho put a stack of North Korean money, five books about Kim Il-sung's life, and three packs of cigarettes on the counter, which the woman took eagerly.

"Macau." I said, giving Ggwek-ggwek back to Joon-ho, who smiled at the little red duck in his arms, and rocked it like baby.

"Where'd you get all this?" She asked, and thankfully, instead of stalling for five minutes, my mind came up with a instant excuse.

"A friend of ours in Macau collects North Korean goods, and gave us some extra goods to sell to get money for bus tickets." I laughed. "We're… kind of short on cash."

"I see, are you all in town to catch some pokemon?" She asked, going behind the cashier, and grabbing cash. "You know, our city was recently rated one of the best cities to catch pokemon in all of China!"

"Yeah, that's what we're doing! Then we'll be making our way down to Beijing to watch them open the gyms." I said, as she handed me a huge stack of yuan, which I struggled to hold. I took a minute to count it, the total coming up to about 650 Canadian dollars. I grinned widely, and bowed to the young woman.

"Have a good time!" She said, as I put of the yuan into my bag, and walked over to the two girls, who were looking at a book on one of the tables, and I tapped on their shoulders, and gestured for them to leave. When we left the shop, I quickly checked the prices for the bus on my phone. When I discovered I had more than enough for the three of us, I let out a loud cheer, shaking my fists up to the cloudy sky.

"We have enough money for bus tickets!" I shouted into the heavens, garnering odd stares from the people surrounding us. The rest of my group just stared at me, and I quietly straightened myself up, embarrassed.

"Let's get dinner, and then set out." I muttered under my breath, and the four of us began to walk again, drifting through the city of Dandong like plastic bags in the wind, which is an awful euphemism, but true. We had no path to follow, no map to guide us through the city, so it was our only real choice. I noticed the large amount of South Korean tourists meandering around, looking over the bridges into North Korea and chattering in the southern dialect, probably the only time they had ever seen the country above them. It rubbed me the wrong way, like they were looking at a caged animal instead of actual humans with lives and emotions, but I swallowed my anger and outrage, and kept moving.

It became apparent during our journey around the city, that Yeong-mi and Seon-hyang were pretty sheltered, even for North Korean standards. Whenever they saw something odd, such as a woman wearing skinny jeans, who glared at us in anger and confusion, the two would start to chatter amongst themselves, and turn to me and demand what she was doing. The two would suddenly stop in their tracks stare at window displays of stores, whether they were clothes, or just like… furniture. Joon-ho seemed amazed at some things, but not to the extent that they were, so I knew it wasn't because every member of North Korean society hadn't seen a microwave before. I rationalized it as the two of them being on a shorter leash then most North Koreans, and only shown what the government wanted them to see.

We found a decent looking restaurant, a pretty normal looking building honestly, in the center of town, with a large, flashing neon sign advertising noodles. I sighed, deciding to risk food poisoning to eat something other than fish jerky or soup. I corralled the three North Koreans, and led them into the resturaunt. The interior was bright, with lights hanging from the ceiling illuminating every part of the room, dark, wooden tables scattered around the room, and a large CRT television hanging on the wall, showing a cheesy Chinese drama argument between a young, attractive man and woman, probably love interests, and loud Mandarin pop music playing throughout the building. The four of us were greeted by a hostess, a woman who looked to be about my mother's age, with bleached blond hair and a forced grin. I did most of the talking, and the woman sat us down at a booth towards the back, the Lees next to each other and Seon-hyang close by me, and soon, a much younger waitress, about Joon-ho's age, with a cheery demeanor and dark hair to her shoulders, and bangs in her eyes, greeted us, and gave us our menus, which led into a whole 6 minutes of me describing various items of Chinese cuisine to them before the waitress returned. I decided to have a Chongqing hot pot, an old favorite me and (surprisingly) my dad enjoyed together in Vancouver's Chinatown, Yeong-mi ordered Char Siu pork belly strips, and both Seon-hyang and Joon-ho decided to share with me, after I told them how big the pot would be. I ordered Chrysanthemum tea, and the rest of my companions settled for water. With that, the waitress left us alone, with no one else in the restaurant. All of us were silent, Joon-ho watching the TV, before I suddenly heard the opening bars to a song I heard frequently growing up, a smile growing on my face, and I began to dance along, as I let out Jessica and Varaha (Poison types were banned in restaurants worldwide because of their deadly poison, so I had to wait to feed Nina).

"Honey, you put love into my heart." I sang, as Jessica crawled in Seon-hyang's arms, and Varaha trotted over to Yeong-mi, who picked him up, and put him in her lap. "Concentrating, trying to listen."

I sang most of the song, trying to imitate the singer's hand gestures without slapping Seon-hyang across the face. Joon-ho looked very unimpressed, Gwek-Gwek was more interested in the napkins put on the table, Yeong-mi was clapping along, as was Jessica, Varaha could care less, and Seon-hyang looked very embarrassed.

"Ohhh…" I sighed as the song ended, leaning back, before I burst out laughing. "I haven't heard that song since I was ten… That brought me back."

"Don't do that again." Seon-hyang said quickly, flush dancing across her cheeks, and I laughed harder.

"Did I embarrass you?" I drawled, pulling on Seon-hyang's shirt sleeve, who yanked her arm back with a bright red face. I cooed at her, before I turned to my rapidly cooling tea and the television in view. I watched nervously as a large 'breaking news' graphic floated on the TV, cutting off the cheesy drama playing before. I hoped it was something not North Korea related, maybe some corrupt politician resigned from Congress again after Weibo users harassed him. I watched as the graphic faded to a prim reporter in a bright red dress shirt on against a purple backdrop.

"Breaking news out of North Korea." The woman announced, and I felt my stomach free fall into my intestines, and I tried my best not to cough up my tea. "A report released by Pyongyang has allegedly accused US spies of kidnapping two female state musicians, and transporting them across the DMZ, into South Korea, for 'immoral purposes'."

I leaned back, back hitting the cushion, and I swallowed my laugh. US spy? Immoral purposes? Across the DMZ? Jesus, how wrong could they be? I continued to watch the TV, just in case pictures or names were shown.

"Pyongyang has not identified the two girls, the only thing known about them is that they were members of the popular all female band, Moranbong." The woman continued, and a video of the band performing together in bright white military dresses upon a large stage, the audience swarmed with elites in dark green uniforms, clapping in unison, and I managed to spot Seon-hyang amongst the other singers, a fake smile strewn across her face as she gestured stiffly, as if her entire bottom half was glued to the floor, unmoving, and I felt thankful that she hadn't needed to brandish a Stepford smile anymore. I turned to the real girl, who had heard the song on the TV, and was sitting frozen with a fearful expression on her face, and I saw that Yeong-mi and Joon-ho were frozen in place as well.

"Don't worry." I said, and all 3 of them turned to me. "They haven't named you, and they think the US military abducted you and took you across the DMZ. We're good for now." All of them seemed to relax, and I turned to the TV again.

"A response from US President Donald Trump is expected at midnight Beijing time, and South Korean officials have not commented." The anchor continued, before bowing, and with that, the TV returned to its drama programming. My heart was still planted firmly in my stomach due to the fact that it hit me that I just caused a _major diplomatic crisis_ , and that it would take _months_ for the truth to come out, because I wasn't leaving immediately to Canada to grant the three refugee status. What if I restart the Korean War? What would textbooks read? 'Marie Jones was just 20 when she accidentally landed in North Korea, beginning a chain of events that would lead to thousands of deaths.' Oh god, what if I caused people to die? Thankfully, Joon-ho broke me out of my thoughts.

"What did Pyongyang give as the reason you 'abducted' Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi, Miss US Bastard?" Joon-ho joked, and I laughed heartily, getting rid of my nerves, as our food was delivered to us. I quickly plopped the beef, vegetables and Sichuan peppers into the boiling soup broth, getting our dinner started. I kept some vegetables on the plate, and divided them up between Varaha, Jessica, and Ggwek-Ggwek, and watched them chow down eagerly, before I answered, making sure the waitress wasn't in listening distance.

"They basically vaguely alluded to prostitution." I said, stirring the soup with a provided spoon. "Or human trafficking. Probably both."

"Pro-sti-tut-ion?" Seon-hyang sounded out, cocking her head in confusion. "What's that?" I looked over to see Joon-ho look very grim, and Yeong-mi shook her head violently.

"It's… uh… when s-someone pays for someone else to spend time with them." I stuttered, feeling my cheeks burn, and I nervously stirred. "In the bedroom. Alone."

"Oh. _Oh._ " Seon-hyang said, her eyes widening, and her complexion turned bright red, and my hormonal brain snagged on how pretty her face was at that hue, before I diverted it elsewhere.

"Yeah." I said quietly, and the two of us fell into an awkward silence.

"Did the US reply yet?" Yeong-mi asked between bites of her pork ribs, trying to change the subject.

"It's daybreak for them, so not yet." I said, shrugging slightly. "They will, though. Any country doesn't like when their military is accused of human trafficking, or spying for that matter." I doled out the finished soup into three bowls, then gave them to Seon-hyang and Joon-ho.

"Be careful, this stuff is pretty spicy, even for me, and I grew up drinking this stuff." I warned, before I took a sip of my soup. I wasn't immediately hit with the spice, which was good, I hadn't made it inedible by accident, but after a minute, I felt my mouth go numb, and all was well. I looked over at Seon-hyang and Joon-ho, who were obviously sweating, but not deterred.

"You grew up on this?" Seon-hyang asked, with a flushed face, and I nodded. Seon-hyang looked at me with wide eyes, before shrugging, and returning to her soup. After 10 minutes, all of us had finished our soup, Yeong-mi had eaten her ribs, and I grabbed some leftover vegetable garnish to feed Nina. We paid for our meal, I retrieved my pokemon, and left the restaurant, and I got ready to walk some more.

However when I stepped outside, I was rushed by the winter cold, and the weather outdoors had fallen into a heavy blizzard, snow and cold winds slapping my face, and I shivered in my long sleeved shirt, bunching myself together. I checked the temperature on my phone, and balked when it read -22 Celsius. We weren't walking in that weather, no way.

"Okay, change of plans." I said loudly, trying to yell over the roaring winds, and the three of them stopped. "We're going to go to the nearest train station, and take a train to Shenyang."

"What about your money?" Yeong-mi shouted, face covered in distraught. "How are we going to get to Beijing?"

"I'll battle someone for cash!" I shouted back, as the wind attempted to push me to my knees. "It's going on the train or dying, man! This is the only option! Let's go!" With that, I brought up the directions of the train station, which wasn't too far away, and we set out, managing to travel 3 blocks to the train station, which was a plain, dark grey stone building surrounded by tan colored hotels. When we walked into the warmth of the train station, I walked over to the ticket office, and ordered four tickets for the next train to Shenyang, which happened to be at 4 am, due to delays, which gave us a good 2 hours of twiddling our thumbs in the lobby, which was a large grey room with benches and a flat screen TV blasting the news, a hallway leading to a bathroom and vending machines, their light visible from a distance.

After I got our tickets, we stretched out in the empty lobby, putting down our bags and resting either on the benches, where Joon-ho sat, holding a sleeping Ggwek-Ggwek, and also where Yeong-mi rested, taking up a decent part of the bench, or the floor, which is where Seon-hyang prefered to lay, flat on her back, not caring about the concrete floor, with closed, relaxed eyes, and dark hair (still in that perfect bob, even though I swore my hair was becoming rattier and greasier by the day) splayed across her face.

"Aren't you uncomfortable?" I asked, looking down at her from the bench. "I can give you my sleeping bag if you want to lay down."

"No." She said, a small smile gracing her face. "I'm fine. Besides, it reminds me of home."

"Home?" I questioned, with wide eyes. Seon-hyang opened her eyes, and looked at me unflinchingly.

"Yes."

"Didn't your parents have a hard time moving around you?" I asked, holding my chin up with one hand. "Like, when they were walking around the house and stuff, getting chores done or dinner done."

"I don't have parents." Seon-hyang said in a slightly somber tone, and she closed her eyes again. I said nothing, just stared at the resting girl in utter shock. Suddenly, everything made sense, why she was willing to follow Yeong-mi into China, even though she was loyal to Kim Jong-Un. Yeong-mi and Joon-ho were her only family left, and if they left, she wouldn't have anyone left. She'd be alone. It was so obvious! So, so obvious… I slid down from my seat until she was right next to me, and I ran my fingers through her hair, causing her to sigh. I wanted to hold her to my chest, make her feel safe, make her feel warm, feel how cold she is from the outdoors. I wouldn't mind. I wouldn't mind. It's her, after all, her presence is enough for me. I choked all of my feelings down, not wanting to creep her out further. I had only gotten her to like me a few days ago, all my progress could be thrown out just as fast if I suggested romantic interest.

"I'm sorry for prying." I said softly, as the woman leaned into my touch, and she opened one eye. I managed to catch a glimpse of confusion on her face, but it disappeared. Seon-hyang crawled closer to me, laying her head in my lap and resting between my legs, which made me feel _things_ , things which I also quickly swallowed down. I looked over at the TV, which was now broadcasting the US president's response to our defection, or 'abduction' if you would. As he accused North Korea of lying about the kidnapping to cover up the girl's probable execution to make the country look god (which garnered a chuckle from me), Seon-hyang opened her eyes at my laugh, and then squinted at the man on the TV.

"What's the US jacka-president saying?" Seon-hyang asked, her brows turned upwards in confusion. Even after all this, I thought to myself, and she's still quick to call an American a jackal. Old habits really do die hard.

"Basically accusing them of executing you and Yeong-mi." I said, and Seon-hyang grimaced. "And lying about it to get people angry at America. As usual."

"They're both lying." Seon-hyang groaned, and frowned, laying her head on my inner thigh, which burned - even through clothing- at the contact.

"Yup." I said, continuing to rub Seon-hyang's head as I reached for my bag and let Nina out, who just looked at the two of us with an unimpressed expression ("It took you two _that_ long?"). I got her dinner out, and watched her chow down from the corner of my eye.

"In America." Seon-hyang suddenly asked, after watching the TV for a while and getting my attention. "Does the president go into schools and pick his aides?" I was taken completely by surprise by that question, and it took me a few minutes for me to respond.

"...No?" I said, looking down at her in shock. "At least… I think so?"

"Oh." Seon-hyang said, looking up at me with a flush across her face.

"Did… did that happen to you?" I asked softly. Seon-hyang nodded the best she could, while still on my lap.

"I went to a music academy… One day, people from the Party came into our class, and asked for me." Seon-hyang said, putting her hand on my knee. "I thought they were going to kill me, but they said that the Dear Leader had liked my singing enough to let me join a state band! So, I moved into the barracks where the members lived, and then I started singing."

"So, you joined because of that?"

"Yes." Seon-hyang said, sighing lowly. "It was my duty."

"I thought so." I said lowly as I scratched my chin, looking over at Nina, who had finished her dinner, curled up into a spiky purple ball, and was snoring loudly. "When they showed your concert, you looked like someone glued your feet to the ground and told you to smile and dance." That garnered a peal of adorable giggles from Seon-hyang.

Both of us jolted out of my skin when I heard my phone vibrate against the floor, and I reached over to pick it up. My dad was calling me from his cell phone, probably to ask me more questions. I guessed that my mother had told him everything she already knew from me, and he wanted to know more, or check in with me. Both were possible answers.

"Who is that?" Seon-hyang asked, peering at my phone, trying to read the English on it.

"My dad."

Seon-hyang made a quiet noise, and looked up at me with curious eyes. I decided not to let the call go to voicemail to avoid further panicking, and picked up the phone.

"Hey."

"Hey kiddo." My dad said, a nervous tone to his voice. "Your mother told me everything."

"Sorry for making you worry for 5 days..." I said quietly, scratching at my head. I was half expecting to be reprimanded, half expecting him to sympathize with me.

"I'm not mad." My dad replied, relieving my stress a little. "Why would I be mad at you? You could've gotten killed if you called! I'm just relieved you're safe, now. Where are you?"

"Still in Dandong." I said, rubbing Seon-hyang's head softly, garnering a smile. "It dropped to -22 Celcius, so we ended up going by train."

"Hmm." My dad hummed. "That's good."

"By the way…" My dad continued, and I knew what was coming next. "While you were in North Korea, did you overhear anything about the girls from Moranbong?"

"Dad…" I sighed, getting ready for his reaction. "They're traveling with me."

"...Excuse me?"

"They weren't 'abducted' by the US military." I said, stopping my hand so I didn't accidentally scratch Seon-hyang in a nervous tic. "They defected with me."

"Did they have a choice in the matter?"

"Yeah… I mean, it's not like I slung them over my shoulder and walked for 5 days." I said, scratching my face. "They weren't too crazy about the outside at first, sure, but they could've bailed and got me arrested."

"What got them to stay, if they weren't crazy about the outside world?" My dad asked.

"One of the girl's cousins is also traveling with me." I said, looking over at a napping Joon-ho, head drooping, and then at a sleeping Yeong-mi. "He defected with me because he wanted to be a trainer. The other girl followed because they were the only friends she had."

"Well, at least we'll never have to worry about someone making a sappy Lifetime movie about you and your friends." My dad laughed, and I giggled a little. "How are they holding up?"

"One of the girls originally hated my guts and called me a 'Yankee' to my face." I stopped because my dad was laughing so loud that I couldn't get anything in. "We managed to become friends, she's laying on my lap right now. The other one has also gained huge strides from when we first met. Otherwise, the both of them are pretty curious. They'll stop right in front of something and ask what it is, like storefronts with electronics, and a woman wearing jeans."

"Do they know any English?"

"Not that I know of." I said, and my dad sighed.

"It'll be just like when I met your mother's family." My dad lamented. "I was the only one there who wasn't speaking Cantonese."

"Sorry." I said, shrugging a little. "More musical than diplomatic, so I guess they didn't need English."

"It's fine, it's fine. How are you holding up?"

"I'm pretty sure mom's gonna complain about my hair, but I'm fine." I said. "I'm not sick or anything. I had hot pot for dinner, today."

"Better than Vancouver's?"

"Not that good." I snorted. "I'm not in the Canton area yet."

"Your pokemon okay? Please tell me you didn't catch any over there."

"They're good, and no, I'm not that crazy." I laughed. "There wasn't anything really to catch there. Mostly saw Rattata and Starly until Mount Paektu."

There was a pause between us, and Seon-hyang looked up at me with concern in her eyes, and I mouthed 'nothing bad' to her, which caused her to relax slightly.

"Well, it must be late for you, sweetheart." My dad said softly. "I'll let you go, we'll be in Beijing in two days, stay safe out there, okay?"

"Kay. Love you."

"Love you too."

Click.

"What did your father ask you?" Seon-hyang asked as I put my phone down, a slightly worried expression on her face, and I smiled down at her.

"He asked if you were the girls he heard about on the TV, then he asked how you two were faring." I grinned, running my hand through her hair again. "I told him that you two are very curious about the new world around you, so you two were doing well."

"Oh." Seon-hyang hummed, before her attention was brought to the TV. Another news story started playing in the time that our attention was diverted elsewhere, detailing the history of Moranbong. Because of that topic, they started playing clips of the band playing together. This time, all of the band was dressed in black party dresses, and I couldn't spot Seon-hyang, so I guess it was just the instruments on the stage. I watched the background TV screen, which displayed Kim Jong Un signing something, the shots of a rocket lifting off into the sky, a map of the United States, then a 3D model of the world. I watched as the 3D Earth exploded at the climax of the song, with a shout of "Tansume!" from the violinists, and the people in the audience (probably military officials and their wives) danced in a North Korean version of a mosh pit. It was so surreal and so hilarious that I fished out my idea notebook from my bag and wrote the basic idea of the concert, so I could tell it in a stand up routine. Seon-hyang craned her neck to look at my notebook, and pouted at me when she saw that I was writing in English.

"That's an old concert…" Seon-hyang whined, frowning at the TV. "They should show a newer one!"

"I think they're showing a chronology of your performances." I said, and a look of realization came over Seon-hyang's face as the performance changed to a more recent one.

We busied ourselves by watching the TV go through several Moranbong concerts, for most of them, the Seon-hyang on stage sang with a fake smile on her face, barely moving her lower body. Her clothes on stage changed from long party dresses with crystals, now, she either wore the green military uniform I loved so dearly, or a white military-style dress, with either a white hat with a gold emblem on the top, or no hat. Even though she looked like Kim Jong Un's poseable doll while on stage, I couldn't deny that she was a beautiful singer, and I found myself humming along to the song in earnest, even though it was an empty praise song.

"Look, look!" Seon-hyang giggled loudly, and pointed to the TV, where she was singing towards the end in a shot of the group. "I'm stuck, Marie!" I laughed quietly as well, and grabbed the Coca-Cola I got on the boat from my bag, hoping that it hadn't gone flat, and opened it with a short blast of carbonation, which made Seon-hyang jump, and get up from my lap.

"What's that?" Seon-hyang asked, looking over the dark bottle in earnest, before she spotted the red and white logo, and smiled. "Oh! Coca! They have that in North Korea!"

"Coca?" I questioned, looking at her, and she nodded vigorously. "Huh. You wanna sip?" This got me another nod, and I smiled lopsidedly. I guess a bit of Coca-Cola snuck past the border from China somehow, and Seon-hyang drank it, even though it was 'capitalist'. Odd, but I waved it away, thinking that one of her bandmates gave it to her.

I handed the drink over to her, and she opened the cap with a crack, and took a swig of it. She smiled warmly at the sweet taste, before she handed it back to me. I took a drink of the soda, which was still fizzy, thank god, before screwing the cap back on. Seon-hyang draped herself over my legs, and settled back into my lap. The news had changed topics, instead, discussing the recent meeting of Politburo, and I watched Seon-hyang begin to doze out of boredom. I had a few more swigs of the caffeinated soda to keep me awake, because I was the only person who could speak Chinese, and could therefore bluff my way out of deportation. However, I felt myself beginning to doze off as well, and I was trying to stay awake, until I heard a loud mechanical bell, and then, a robotic voice.

"The train to Shenyang is now approaching Dandong Station." The feminine voice said, before repeating itself, and then ending the message with the mechanical bell again, and I saw the yellow lights of the train shine through the storm, and Seon-hyang and I jolted up at the sight of the white high-speed train cutting through the white of the storm. I quickly retrieved Nina with a light click from the pokeball, jogged over to the Lees, shook them awake, and told them what was happening, and they reached for their bags. We quickly dashed out the doors to the concrete outdoor station, pushing against the blizzard, just as the train pulled up, and opened its doors. I led them in, and we found the train to be completely devoid of any human presence, with sterile walls and orange seats lining a very narrow path through the train, which was pretty obvious, because we were on the train at 4 am. We settled in a group of orange cushioned seats in the very back of the train, I took the window seat, with Seon-hyang sitting right next to me. As the train jolted forward at a high speed, Seon-hyang laid her head on my shoulder, smiling to herself as she shut her eyes, and fell asleep.

This was worth everything I experienced, I thought to myself, as I stroked her hair again

* * *

 **notes-**

 **dandong is a major city on the chinesMe-north korean border, known for that border, specifically the 'broken bridge', a bridge between north korea and china that was bombed by us forces during the korean war, and was never fixed. people really do sell north korean money and books and shit as a gift, which is interesting i guess... anyway its probably the best way to look into north korea without being in north korea, because the border is barely patrolled unlike the dmz.**

 **ggwek-ggwek means quack. thats what it means. he named a duck quack**

 **the song marie sang in the resturaunt is "honey" by cyndi wang**

 **what seon-hyang describe as happening to her, really does happen to girls who are in the inner party. however one thing i didnt mention is that the (mostly male) officials check if the girl is a virgin. i really really didn't feel like writing a mention of sexual assault because 1. it wasnt going to go anywhere 2. its cheap shock**

* * *

 **anyway, this chapter was kind of filler-y, and the next one will be too, but eeeh, i need to develop the cahracters more.**

 **sorry this is so late, i lost the mood to write for a few days last week, and i did a portfolio review last week (sva and cal arts, both positive). i also finished a really interesting book on north korea called "The Purest Race: How North Koreans View Themselves." its pretty eye opening in a way.**

 **i got sun today, at target, where they had a odd promotion where you could get a free soda and popcorn, the soda was soda and the popcorn was really stale. i chose litten, and named it after a tiger at work.**

 **anyway im wiped, im going to bed right now so i can go to work.**

 **please review, fav and follow.**

 **au revior**

 **marie's pokemon**

 **jessica - clefairy f, varaha, tepig m, nina, nidorina f**

 **joon-ho's pokemon**

 **ggwek-ggwek, magby m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon**

 **n/a**


	8. EXTRA: The Ballad of Jung Seon-hyang

**authors note:**

 **this is by far my longest chapter, clocking at about 11,390 words, an absolute beast to write, written over several weeks, the meat of it during my rides to and from my hometown for thanksgiving. merry thanksmas.**

 **anyway this is not! not chapter 8. this takes place between chapter 4 and chapter 5, and is told from seon-hyang's prespective, which makes this an extra chapter, and is probably why its gigantic. so here you go**

 **chapter title is a refrence to "the ballad of dorothy parker" by prince**

 _ **THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M AND CONTAINS MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ACTIVITY AND NUDITY. READ WITH CAUTION**_

 **anyway please fav follow and review, thanks :)**

* * *

Seon-hyang grew up knowing that behind every problem she faced, a American jackal had been behind it all.

It was never her own fault.

It was never her country's fault, she remembers singing as a child with many others in a showing of the orphanage where she lived to government officials, dressed in her scratchy white dress that only went down to her knees, long hair pulled back in a bun, and wide idealistic eyes, 'Our father is Marshal Kim Il Sung / Our home is the bosom of the Party / We are all brothers and sisters…

We envy nothing in this world."

And Seon-hyang was taught to envy nothing, as everything bad that happened, happened for a reason.

Food shortage? Imperialist jackals are behind it all, trying to crush North Korean sovereignty.

Power outage for several hours, which caused her to light candles to read, like her ancestors? Americans are forcing us to conserve power, because they're keeping it all to themselves.

Her parent's, and practically her entire family's deaths due to starvation during the Aurdious March, shortly after she was born? Well, isn't that one obvious?

The Americans were the main enemy of her childhood, and most of her adulthood, the evil bogeymen always close behind her, ready to kill her if she even thought about slipping up and losing her devotion to the Party and the Marshal Kim Jong Un. That's why she joined Moranbong, with several other girls her age who were also core class songbun, she justified to herself, even though she didn't really enjoy singing, to protect Korean-style socialism against the evil forces of American and Japanese forces, trying to corrupt her people. She was lucky, lucky that the Marshal personally chose her - the little orphan girl - to be in his new pop music band, Moranbong, and therefore join the Party, and tell her people about his greatness, how good it was to be led under him. She couldn't understand why any of them could defect to the American puppet state in the south. To her, living under the Americans was the worst fate of them all, worse than starving, worse than war, and she thought she was to remain completely and utterly loyal to the party for the rest of her life, the party that raised her in place of a mother who had left this world, as with the Marshal and his father, and his grandfather who created the wonderful country she had the blessing to be born in.

And yet… here she was. Walking in the dark forests on the distant outskirts of Pyongyang, with Yeong-mi unnie and Joon-ho - and the _fucking jackal_ \- heading towards the Chinese border, to never return. How had this happened to her, an obedient member of the party, who feverently believed in Juche, Korea-style socialism and Kim Il Sung's greatness? Was this a test of her beliefs? She didn't know how or why Yeong-mi and Joon-ho had agreed to be lead away from the party's comforting bosom, to fend for themselves in the cruel outside world, but she knew who to blame for all of this.

Of course, it was the jackals fault. It always was! And now, she had a _real_ one to blame for seducing her friends, the only family she had, to leave the Motherland, instead of the ones in the pages of the books she read during elementary school. Or in history books.

The jackal, who had caused all of this to happen, was looking over at Seon-hyang, trying to get her attention by glancing over at her. Unlike the jackals she read about in the news, seen in paintings in schools or amusement parks, or were told about by older children in her orphanage, she looked normal. She didn't have sunken in eyes, a large protruding nose or huge breasts, or looked any bit bestial for that matter, which confused Seon-hyang further. She remembers Ju-won - a skinny twig of a girl who bunked with the younger Seon-hyang until she was adopted by an infertile couple in the inner class, probably living a good life now, with uneven teeth, hair braided tightly into pigtails, wearing the standard North Korean school uniform, a white button up shirt, a dark pleated skirt, and a red sash on her shoulders, tied together and resting on her front - lecturing her on how Americans could be identified just by those traits. The jackal she met, however, towered over the three, with flat breasts but a thicker frame than Seon-hyang's, wearing a uniform consisting of of black pants, a black shirt, a large and fluffy dark green jacket made of a tough looking fabric, and tough, dark brown boots, the likes of which Seon-hyang had never seen before. The jackal had a long, oval shaped face, slightly large, dark eyes, notably with a subtle upward lift at the corner of her eyes, with a complexion very similar to Seon-hyang's own. The jackal also had a similar nose to the North Korean girl's, small and roundish, but had larger lips, which always seemed to be to be permanently fixed in a pout, when not expressing herself of course. The jackal's dark hair was shorter than what she expected, having heard that jackal's long hair is what keeps them so stupid, only reaching to her chin, but flung all over, like she just woke up from a nap or something.

In conclusion, the jackal looked very similar to an average North Korean, unlike what Ju-won told her. However, Seon-hyang wasn't stupid. She heard how easily English rolled of the jackals tongue, perfect and accentless. Maybe that was their next step, bringing over South Koreans or Chinese people they captured, teaching them English and/or Korean, and bringing them over the border to attack the Marshal and overthrow the Party. It made her sick to her stomach thinking about something so devious, a nasty trick by the jackals to destroy her home country and take it all over, making it one big American puppet state. Or ruin their relationship with their biggest partner, China.

She glared back at the Jackal, and the Jackal turned away, a glimmer of disappointment in her eyes as she adjusted her arms, which was holding that pink… thing she called 'Jessica', a fat little beast that only reached to her knees, with two big ears with black tips, a curl on the top of its head, two arms with stubby clawed fingers, and two little stubs of legs, with one big white nail for each foot, little wings and a tail, and a insatiable desire to stalk Seon-hyang. Seon-hyang theorized that this 'Jessica' was the pokemon she used to spy, and every night the little thing would report supsicious activity of the three to her… somehow. 'Jessica' didn't appear to be one of the ones who could talk with Jackals, like in her books and on TV who would pose as fauna in North Korean forests, then turn around and reveal strategic locations of the army to the enemy. Instead, the little thing seemed to chatter and babble, like a toddler who was testing their vocal cords out, and Marie just seemed to _know_ what it was saying. She probably raised that thing herself, Seon-hyang concluded, creating the perfect weapon. Cute enough to look like a toy, but deadly and sneaky.

The Jackal should learn how disappointment feels, her brain trumpeted, because she'll be disappointed if she thinks Jung Seon-hyang is going to even think about giving her attention at all. She doubts that they'll even make it to China, some brave soldier will be patrolling the forest, there was always a person like that in her stories, and then the innocent Seon-hyang will run up to him and tell him that she's been kidnapped by a US Jackal, and then he'll shoot her to death, and she'll return to Pyongyang as a hero of Korean ingenuity against the evil imperialists. The Americans will grovel at the might of the courageous North Korean might, secretly planning their next attempt. Seon-hyang would marry the soldier as gratitude, and have a wonderful life with plenty of children and food to go around.

She felt a tug on her jacket as she fantasized about getting back to Pyongyang and getting rid of the Jackal once and for all, and she whipped around angrily to face the Jackal, who was staring at her in anticipation and impatience, with narrowed eyes. Seon-hyang tried to jerk her sleeve away, glaring up at the Jackal, but the Jackal did not relent, holding her sleeve tighter.

"We're stopping for the night." The jackal said firmly, and Seon-hyang looked around to see the Lee cousins setting up two dark colored tents close by, in a brief clearing between swarms of trees.

"Don't grab me, jackal." Seon-hyang spat to her, forcing her hand back to her side. To her surprise, the Jackal looked remorseful, and blinked quickly.

"Sorry." The Jackal said softly, and went over by the camp to set up a bonfire for warmth, leaving behind a confused Seon-hyang. The North Korean shook it off, assuming the Jackal was just trying to trick her into trusting her. Whatever it was, she walked over to Yeong-mi, who was working on making sure the tent didn't collapse in on itself, and began to help her set the tent up. Within a few minutes, the tent was standing up and _staying up_ , and the fire was staying lit as well. The Jackal was resting by the fire pit, legs stretched out in front of her. The creature named 'Jessica' had been retrieved by the Jackal's 'pokeballs', and now she was looking over at the three North Koreans with curious eyes, focusing mainly on Seon-hyang. Seon-hyang glowered at the girl, feeling a flash of burning anger form in her stomach. Why was that beast looking at me?

"Joon-ho." The beast said suddenly, while she stretched her arms, and the boy whipped his head to face the girl with wide eyes. He wasn't wearing his hat, as he usually did, showing off his buzzcut he got when he came back from the towns in the north. She should be referring to him as sir, Seon-hyang growled in her head.

"Let's head to bed." She continued, pausing to yawn loudly. Seon-hyang was surprised to see regular teeth, not a maw of sharp teeth. "We need a decent amount of energy if we need to get moving tomorrow."

"Sure." Joon-ho shrugged, grabbing his bag, and yanking his curled up, bright orange sleeping bag from it, after digging around aimlessly in her bag for a few seconds. "Me and Yeong-mi will sleep in the same tent."

No! She wasn't going to sleep with that... thing! Seon-hyang whipped her head around to the Jackal, who seemed mildly shocked by this turn of events. Please say no, Seon-hyang begged her in her head (even though she would never admit to begging the Jackal to do anything), please say no…!

"Sure." The Jackal said, grabbing her own, bright blue sleeping bag from her own dark brown backpack. Seon-hyang was at a loss for words, hoping that Yeong-mi would speak out for her. However, Yeong-mi stayed silent, preferring to look at the fire and stick her hands out in front of her instead of letting her friend bunk with the enemy. Seon-hyang recognized defeat, and sullenly, began to pull out her dark green sleeping bag, and move towards the tent towards the right. As she crawled through, she was met with the Jackal setting up her own bag on the right side. Seon-hyang sneered at her when the beast looked her way, then turned away. Seon-hyang scoffed, and attempted to pull her sleeping bag out of its cover. It wouldn't budge, which caused Seon-hyang to growl, and tug at it harder.

"Do you need help?" The Jackal asked, not bothering to look at Seon-hyang.

"I can handle myself, jackal." Seon-hyang snapped her head towards the beast and snarled at her, noticing that she was now laying down on top of her own sleeping bag, watching her with interested eyes, which made her angrier, before she turned back to her bag.

After another minute of tugging at her bag, she heard the Jackal breath loudly out of her nose, and then felt the beast's hands on her own, as she gently moved the North Korean's fingers towards the drawstrings, and loosened the bag, making it easier to pull the sleeping bag through. The beast grabbing her fingers did not elicit the appropriate response of anger or raw fear pulsing for her veins, instead, Seon-hyang began to notice how soft her hands were, she had expected her to have rough hands from military work, but they felt like silk — warm silk. Maybe she made sure to keep them soft, so she could trick innocents like you, her brain objected. The second thing she noticed was how the beasts hands on her made her feel. It made her feel… protected. Safe. Like the Jackal was her mother, or the Marshal, protecting her from the harm of the cruel world around them.

She caught herself before she leaned into the touch, and before she could turn to attack the Jackal, the Jackal had removed her hands, and walked over to her sleeping bag. Seon-hyang turned to face the Jackal with rage splayed across her face, and was met with a lounging Jackal, arms thrown over her head and legs open. What an immoral position, the dance director of Moranbong would've shouted, an middle aged woman — who used to be a singer in the Unhasu Orchestra… if the rumors Mi-kyong told her were correct — who was plump with dark hair cropped to her ears and dressed in well fitting military uniforms, women should keep their legs shut and their backs straight! Seon-hyang stared at her, feeling anger and a emotion she couldn't name bubble up under her skin.

"Hey." The Jackal said, as Seon-hyang continued to stare, blood hot and thrumming in her skull. A small smirk played across the Jackal's full lips, and Seon-hyang crawled over to the beast and pulled her up by her hair, instantly removing that smirk, replaced with a contorted look of agony.

"Don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Again." Seon-hyang punctuated her words with a tug of the messy hair in her hands, garnering a yelp of pain every time she pulled. She let go once she felt she made herself clear, and the Jackal stared at Seon-hyang with a hurt expression, eyes narrowing and tears brimming.

"I was trying to help you." The Jackal snarled, a choked tone to her voice, before slipping into her sleeping bag. "Now I've learned my lesson. Go to bed."

"I never needed your he-"

"I SAID GO TO **BED**!" The Jackal screamed, eyes wide, cheeks red, and face contorted in a grimace, leering at Seon-hyang, causing the girl to jump back. "DO YOU **FUCKING** UNDERSTAND?" Seon-hyang quickly scuttled to her sleeping bag, and laid down, not wanting to upset the beast any further.

Seon-hyang didn't dare turn to face the Jackal, scared of what she could say next if she saw her awake. She just laid on her side, trying to will herself to sleep. She got pretty close, before she suddenly heard a low noise, and she rolled towards it. She couldn't see the beast very well, but she saw that she was curled up in what appeared to be the fetal position, shaking violently. Seon-hyang heard the noise again, now registering it as a sob, and then she realized the Jackal was _crying_. That realization came as a swift stab to the heart, causing her stomach to lurch painfully. Seon-hyang felt shame rage through her, burning everything that it touched, and for the first time in her life, she wished she didn't. She wanted to be proud, she made a Jackal cry, wasn't that what she was taught to _enjoy_? When she read books, and watched TV, when the American jackals lost, they always sobbed pitifully, and begged for their lives, as the victorious Koreans ignored their pleas, and killed them as vengeance for their crimes. Instead, she listened to the Jackal sob – louder now – whimpering things in English to herself, and felt very small and pathetic, like a child caught misbehaving.

That night, the idea that – maybe – the Jackal was really human, that maybe– just maybe – she was just like Seon-hyang, began to sprout in Seon-Hyang's mind. But, at that moment in time, Seon-hyang didn't notice anything, she just stared blankly at the Jackal, watching her sobs dissipate as she fell asleep, breathing softly. Seon-Hyang soon followed her to dreamland, singing the song from her childhood.

She had nothing to envy in this world.

Seon-hyang had a particularly bad dream that night, but not in the definition traditionally given to bad dreams. She was locked in a bright white room, hands tied behind her back with a thick rope, legs forced open and tied to two different wooden legs, and sitting on a dark chair, back pushing up against her, made of a type of wood. She was nude, and very cold, hairs standing on end. She struggled against her restraints, which would not budge. Had the Americans captured her? Had the Jackal won her battle, capturing her and her friend? She tugged on her restraints, trying to break free, and was about to start screaming for help. Maybe someone would save her...

Suddenly, Seon-hyang heard a sudden slam, then several quick gunshots. She slunk back in her chair, quivering and trying to look as small as possible. Who's coming? Who's coming? She heard another round of shots, and Seon-hyang flinched at each one. Was a soldier coming to save her? She shivered violently, unable to protect herself from the cold of the room. So cold. So cold.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the front of the room, and a practically invisible white door on the side of the room, towards the front, slammed open. Seon-hyang looked up through her shaggy bangs, as a figure gingerly entered the room. It was the Jackal, dressed in her North Korean military uniform, except with a tight skirt only down to her knees, with hair in a neat bun and blood splattered across her face and arms. She shook violently, and wore a very scared expression, with wide dull eyes.

"I killed them." The Jackal said shakily as she walked forward, looking Seon-hyang in the eyes, her expression not changing. "All of them, Seon-hyang."

Seon-hyang said nothing, and watched as the beast walked forward, until she was right in front of the restrained girl. The Jackal put her gun down by her feet, reached over her body, slowly moving her hands down towards the restraints, skimming the surface of her skin. Her hands were so so soft, and suddenly, Seon-hyang knew _It_ was going to happen, and a thrill ran down her spine, causing her to shiver again. This wasn't like the other times It almost happened, with some nameless soldier who had originally suggested something different, like mahjong or an autograph, before Seon-hyang managed to escape their grasp, with her purity intact. She'd always felt their eyes on her when she was singing, staring, boring into her, eating her up like starving dogs. Seon-hyang hated it at first, she didn't want it, didn't want to be seen as impure. Over time, she swallowed her hatred for being on stage, presenting herself, but she always felt how the men in the audience wanted to do It with her. It made her sick, but this... this was different. She wanted It this time, wanted it so bad she didn't know what to do next. Wanted to shed her purity and become dirty, so filthy, and she was sure Marie would love it. Blood dripped onto her breasts from the Ja… _Marie's_ face, a warm sensation trickling down her body, but she didn't care. Seon-hyang looked up at Marie, who was trying not to look at her exposed breasts with an embarrassed expression and pink flush, and the two locked eyes. Marie stopped untying the rope to stare back, and the two did nothing, just look, talking without the need for words. Asking a question. Getting a confirmation. Anxious to start, Seon-hyang arched her body forward the best she could under the circumstances, towards Marie, which caused the westerner to swallow painfully, quickly taking a glimpse at the girl displaying herself.

Marie finally untied Seon-hyang's restraints, and then she woke up heaving loudly and violently, inside the dark blue tent, hands clutching the fleece and laying on a very sweaty sleeping bag. It took a few minutes for the North Korean girl's head to stop spinning too wildly, and she rubbed her eyes violently. Seon-hyang froze, and whipped her head to see that the Jackal was still fast asleep, and sighed in relief. She hadn't spoken or done worse in her sleep. Her body was still hot, and her heart was thrumming a steady pace in her head. She became aware of an bone deep ache between her legs, and she felt twin blasts of embarrassment and disgust at her body's reaction blast through her.

Seon-hyang didn't know what caused her to dream… whatever that was last night. Who captured her? Why was the Jackal saving her, why was she killing others? Why was she so eager to let the Jackal do It with her? You're pure, she told herself, something one of the directors of Moranbong frequently told her and the other girls to aspire to be, pure as the white snow on Mt. Paektu. You shouldn't think about such… things. She was so pure, she barely knew what It was, only that a girl and a boy in their late teens were caught in the same bed, naked, the year before she left the orphanage, and thrown out, and everyone was forbidden to even mention it, or they wouldn't have dinner. The Jackal had probably done It so many times, with so many others, that it meant nothing more than pleasure to her, no love. It would mean something to Seon-hyang, would mean everything to her.

(She ignored how the thought of the Jackal nude with another woman made her mouth taste bitter.)

The truth was, as much as Seon-hyang didn't want to admit it, that wasn't the first time she had a dream like that. The Jackal had been preceded by her old band leader, Pak Ji-Eun, a taller thing woman with long, dark hair, usually pulled up into a ponytail, and a round face with eyes that were always so expressive, even on stage, and a thin, pink mouth. She played violin like a old master, being the mentor to all the other violinists, always knew the right thing to do on stage, and looked after the younger girl like her own daughter when she first joined Moranbong, introducing her to the other members and sitting with her at meals, and Seon-hyang found herself smitten with her. However, her dreams back then never progressed past hand-holding and long walks on the Taedong river together, an air of intimacy between them, which - at that time - was enough to get Seon-hyang very excited, and Ji-Eun left the band to get married to a general in the army, which ended the dreams very fast. However, the Jackal appeared to be unmarried, and the dream Seon-hyang had involved the girl being naked and showing her nakedness off to the beast, trying to get that beast to do It to her. But… she couldn't be attracted to that beast! She's American, and an imperialist! It was just a figment of her imagination. A lie, made up by her brain to test her selfless devotion and loyalty to the revolutionaries of old.

Suddenly, Seon-hyang heard rustling from the Jackal's side, and Seon-hyang tried to make herself invisible while still keeping her eyes visible. She wanted to watch the Jackal, to see if she had any obvious weaknesses she didn't originally catch when they first met in her room, like a limp in her right leg, or something similar. Here's what Seon-hyang saw:

The Jackal made a quiet groan after a few seconds of awareness, and turned towards Seon-hyang, causing the North Korean's breath to catch, praying the Jackal didn't notice the Peeping Tom. Fortunately for her, the Jackal's eyes were still shut, and Seon-hyang watched as she screwed her face up, as if she swallowed something sour, and sighed quietly. She sat herself, and Seon-hyang watched as the orange sleeping bag slipped off of Marie's front, exposing her front. The Jackal must have shucked off her shirt in her sleep due to the heat, most of her tan chest being paraded to Seon-hyang, and the girl found herself staring at the shape of the Jackal's ribs and slim, somewhat muscular stomach, watching everything move as she stretched her back. The only clothes that the Jackal had the decency to wear was a black lacy bra. Seon-hyang felt another flash of heat jolt down her spine, and Seon-hyang squeezed her legs together, repeating "pure as white snow pure as white snow pure as white snow pure as white snow" in her head to keep herself chaste, deliberating on whether to wrench her eyes away in anger and shame at her lewdness, or keep watching the beast wake up with eagerness she didn't know she possessed.

She chose the latter, watching as the Jackal stretched her bare arms, which flexed a little towards her wrists and shoulders. She scratched at her back, a tired expression on her face, with barely open eyes and hair flung every which way. The Jackal pawed at her face multiple times, before reaching down to scratch at her breasts, Seon-hyang flushing bright red at that action. The Jackal slid out of her sleeping bag, still wearing her pants - to both her disappointment and relief - stood up on wobbly legs and looked tiredly at Seon-hyang, and a small smile grew on her face. Seon-hyang's stomach dropped, and she tried to stay as still as possible, hoping the beast hadn't noticed she was awake and watching her get up.

"Mornin' Seon-hyang." The Jackal said roughly, in her ugly South Korean accent, so posh, so modern, ugly, ugly, ugly, pulling her shirt over her head. Seon-hyang almost begged her to stop and keep her shirt off forever, so she could look at her body further, keep it memorized further. She didn't, instead preferring to glare at the beast, trying to get her to flinch with only a meager glare. The Jackal didn't even look remotely afraid, just blinking blearily from sleep.

"I see nothing has changed between us." The Jackal sighed, a pathetic smile gracing her face and a sad look in her eyes. Seon-hyang wanted to slap it across her face, but preferred to glare up at her, pulling her face up from behind the sleeping bag. "Whatever, I'll start breakfast." With that, the Jackal left the room, therefore removing all distractions from her own insidious thoughts.

Immediately the urge to either punt the Jackal into the sun, or run out there and slam her down and do very impure things with her overcame her, and she snarled and covered her face with her hands, and laid down. Pure as white snow, she screamed in her head, pure as white snow. She was better than this, better than being seduced by an American jackal who did the same to your innocent friends. She'd be better than them, lead them out of this evil with morals intact. She'd win over the American Jackal. She always won, no matter what.

Seon-hyang crawled out to see the sun beaming down at the world, blinding her at first before her eyes adjusted. The sky was a slate grey, and the dark pine trees towered over their miniscule campsite, and the ground was covered in yellow grass and pale dirt. Joon-ho, Yeong-mi and the Jackal were lounging around the morning fire, the only real color in the landscape, drinking bowls of soup, that were obtained from a large pot of soup sitting by their feet. Yeong-mi was watching Joon-ho, sitting up straight, and the Jacka;, sitting cross legged, chattering about something, a wistful smile on her face. Seon-hyang felt sick, and trudged over and filled her bowl with soup, ending the chatter effectively, the others choosing to watch Seon-hyang carefully. She was an outcast to them, she growled, and her hands began to shake, and her hunger disappeared, only filled with rage, pure rage, the Jackal took her friends from her, the only ones she had left…!

Seon-hyang felt nothing but the rage burning through her veins, and she turned to the Jackal, who looked up at her from her sitting position with confused eyes, but both of her hands on the beast's chest, and pushed her to the ground. She heard the pained noise the Jackal made as she fell to the dirt, arms catching herself as she fell to prevent serious damage, the shouts from Yeong-mi and Joon-ho going unheard, as she grabbed the Jackal's shoulder and pinned her to the dirt, feeling it on her fingers. She was going to end this once and for all. She was going to kill the Jackal, and free her friends from her strings. She'd be a hero! She'd… She'd…

Instead of the Jackal, Marie was looking up at Seon-hyang, with wide, scared doe eyes and a open mouth. Seon-hyang felt her urge to fight slowly sap from her, and instead she began to shake violently. She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill Marie, couldn't even hurt her. She couldn't kill someone so beautiful. She felt so cowardly, Ma-the Jackal was an enemy of her people! what would Ju-won, Mi-kyong, or the headmistress say to her about this? She barely registered Joon-ho pulling her off of the Jackal, and looking down at her with an expression of fury. Seon-hyang just looked up weakly at him, ready for the traitor to yell at her for her attack.

"Seon-hyang, what was the meaning of that?" Joon-ho scolded, and Seon-hyang narrowed her eyes at him. He knows why I attacked that beast, but he won't admit it to himself. Still, Seon-hyang felt the need to defend herself.

"Don't you know? Americans are our natural enemies, who killed thousands of our people, men women and children, during the Korean War! I was showing that beast how we treat people like her in this country!" She yelled, looking over at the Jackal, who was looking very dazed, with Yeong-mi helping her up to a sitting position. This ended up infurating her even more. "Don't you remember what Americans did to our wonderful country?"

"I'm fucking Canadian!" The Jackal yelled from her sitting position, and Seon-hyang whipped her head around to face the beast, who was glowering at her. Yeong-mi grabbed the beast's shoulder, and she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Shut up, you liar!" Seon-hyang spat back, and the Jackal was about to say something back, before Yeong-mi put a hand on her shoulder, and the Jackal shut her mouth, but kept on glowering at her. Yeong-mi betrayed her, Seon-hyang's mind screamed, traitor! Traitor, traitor, traitor, traitor! They're all traitors!

"Seon-hyang, you need to give Marie a chance, and open up to her." Joon-ho said, kneeling and putting his hand on her shoulder, and Seon-hyang whipped her head to stare at him in anger. "Just because she's from the West doesn't mean she isn't good."

"No! You're letting her seduce you!" Seon-hyang snarled, slapping his hand from off of her shoulder, and crawling away slowly, shaking her head quickly. "'Once a jackal, always a jackal'. Don't you remember that? She's a liar trying to take you away from the Marshal, and then she'll kill you both for being North Koreans! Can't you see? Can't you see?"

"The Party will do the same to her if she doesn't leave this country!" Joon-ho shouted back at her.

"I hope they kill her!" Seon-hyang snarled, and looked at the angry expressions from her two friends, and suddenly she wanted to swallow her words, and apologize.

Instead, she dashed away from the camp, away from the Jackal and her traitor friends, and ran into the dark forests surrounding it. She ran and ran until the forests finally let up, and she ended up at a sandy bank of the Taedong river, a brown thing that cut through the land. Seon-hyang remembers coming to the southern banks by Pyongyang in the summer, when the water was warm and the trees were verdant, and other children stripped off their clothes and jumped in. Seon-hyang didn't jump in, no matter how hot it was, just lounged by the river in the sweltering heat, reading a book she found in the library by her school, could be a novel, could be nonfiction. And now she was leaving it all behind, now she was going far away, where she might never experience it again. She was leaving the only place she knew for a country she only read books about, and then who knows where the Jackal will drag her. And she was leaving Mi-kyong, one of her best friends and main confidante, Jina, who was one of her many older sister figures, being several ranks above her, and Guk-hyang, who was new to the group, and looked up to Seon-hyang like an older sister. All of them would never see Seon-hyang again, and would have to continue Moranbong without her. For the first time in several years, Seon-hyang tucked her knees into her chest, hung her head, and began to cry. Pitiful crying evolved, and she soon found herself sobbing on the bank of the river, while the cold winter air ate at her resistance. Where would she go? Who would she meet? Would the Jackal force her to speak English, and unlearn everything Korean? Would she force her into slavery? She didn't know! She didn't know!

She cried for a while, before she felt someone's hand on her back, and she looked up to see Yeong-mi's round face, in a tentative smile. Seon-hyang choked up, and climbed into the other girl's arms, sobbing loudly as the former drummer rubbed her back.

"I don't want to go, unnie!" Seon-hyang cried out between sobs, muffled by Yeong-mi's green uniform, clutching Yeong-mi's back like a child. Yeong-mi wordlessly cooed to her, running her hands through her bob haircut softly, knowing that this was Seon-hyang's weakest point. She began to breathe softly, in and out, in and out, until she wasn't crying anymore, just light headed from the effort of crying. Yeong-mi kept on running her hand through her hair, and Seon-hyang looked up to see her still smiling, with a hint of sadness, before she finally spoke:

"We don't know what's out there, Seon-hyang. We could be living in paradise or we could be living in hell." Yeong-mi explained softly, rubbing Seon-hyang's arm now. Seon-hyang wanted to interject, to say that the Jackal was planting all those ideas in her mind to betray her, but Yeong-mi continued. "The only way to know anything is true for sure, is to discover it by ourselves, Seon-hyang. If we don't like it, we can always go back home. I'm sure the Marshal will accept us with open arms."

Seon-hyang didn't agree with her at all, but she didn't have the strenght to argue her point further, not wanting to upset Yeong-mi further. Instead, she stood up, and sullenly walked back to the forest with the drummer, back to the camp, not bothering to look behind her at the river. If she looked back at the river, where she had so many childhood memories, she would cry again, and that would be too much trouble. So she just walked forward, only paying attention to the things in front of her. After a few minutes, the two found themselves in the campsite, which wasn't much of a campsite anymore, with both tents taken down and the fire extinquished, and the ashes scattered, where Joon-ho was watching the Jackal tell a story very energetically, with wide eyes and a toothy grin. The Jackal's pokemon had been let out after the beast collected herself from Seon-hyang's attack, and were loitering around the campsite, sniffing around, but not going too far.

"So, the three boys go out on their bikes in the rain to try and find their missing friend, but right when they reach the fence, a girl popped out from the woods!" the Jackal explained to the readily listening Joon-ho, before turning to face the other girls. "But she's no ordinary girl. Her head is shaved and she's wearing a hospital gown. So the three boys decide to... Oh, you found her." Yeong-mi smiled at Marie, and Seon-hyang grimaced at the two being chummy. How could the two of them just accept their natural enemy as a friend?

"Well, let's go." Marie said, stretching her arms. Joon-ho's face dropped, and grabbed onto the Jackal's arm.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Joon-ho shouted. "You're not going to tell me more?" The Jackal smiled mysteriously, and giggled.

"We're just going to have to wait for more until China." She teased, and Joon-ho pouted, and crossed his arms, causing the Jackal to laugh loudly, which suprisingly didn't sound obviously evil, more like a normal person Seon-hyang's age, before sitting up. "You two ready to go?"

Yeong-mi nodded, and the two of them got up, and the Jackal said some words in English to her pokemon, which got them all to follow her. Seon-hyang imagined it was some military command that all of them were taught when they were very young. After the Jackal corralled all her pokemon, the four set off into the woods, for another day's worth of walking north. Joon-ho said they could reach the border in about a week or more, which meant at least a whole week of walking through forests, eating soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and most importantly, living with the Jackal. Seon-hyang couldn't wait, she was pleased as punch to travel with an American spy who made her friends into traitors.

That's almost exactly what happened for the entire week. Seon-hyang and the others would get up, drink soup, start walking, stop, drink soup, continue walking, stop, drink soup, set up camp, and go to bed. As they walked, the Jackal's 'Jessica' loved to tap her legs with her chubby arms and whimper and complain in her babbling tone. She asked the Jackal why that thing was following her on the second day, and she laughed her normal sounding laugh and replied:

"She wants you to carry her."

"Well I won't carry her!" Seon-hyang retorted, crossing her arms and scowling down at that thing, who was now tugging on her pant leg, hindering her from walking. "Tell her to stop bugging me!"

The Jackal said something soft to the pokemon in English, and the pokemon frowned and shook her head. The Jackal sighed loudly.

"Sorry, I can't get her to." The Jackal groaned, crossing her arms. "You're just gonna have to wait and see if she gives up."

"B-But, you can get all your pokemon to follow you with one word in English!" Seon-hyang protested. "Why can't you get her to stop?"

"Because she's stubborn." The Jackal replied cooly. "The reason why I can get them all to move is because I earned their trust long ago, when I first met them. However, no matter the trainer, some pokemon just disobey certian orders. She's not attacking you, so just let her follow you."

Seon-hyang groaned loudly, but didn't say anything further, thinking it would just last one day, and then the little beast will learn to give up a fight.

It didn't. It continued from the next day, to the next. She swore the Jackal told 'Jessica' to do that just to spite her, or as a joke. It wasn't a joke to her, Seon-hyang growled during the third day, as the thing squealed at her to pick her up, yanking at her pant leg so hard she swore it was goign to tear.

She complained to Yeong-mi about the pokemon when the two were alone, picking berries in the forest as a snack, far from the fire and the chattering Joon-ho and Jackal, talking eagerly about their favorite old movies. Yeong-mi just laughed after Seon-hyang finished her tale, which rubbed Seon-hyang the wrong way. What was so funny about that?

"What's funny?" Seon-hyang asked, looking angrily at Yeong-mi. She didn't look anything different than in Pyongyang, short hair a little shaggier, hands a little dirtier — Yeong-mi being the more outdoorsy of the two, being from the countryside — but not suddenly evil looking. It was funny how this all worked, Seon-hyang thought to herself, that you couldn't tell the capitalist traitors apart. Then again, the traitors in her books were written as strangers, invading Americans or businessmen in the South. They weren't written as close friends who suddenly decided to defect over the border.

"It's funny because Jessica hates all of us except Marie and you." Yeong-mi smiled, while tying a little brown cloth bag containing the berries they had collected closed, and stood up. "Maybe Jessica is trying to tell you something…?"

"No she's not!" Seon-hyang exclaimed loudly, probably waking up some of the village they passed an hour ago, face turning bright red. "She's just being a brat! A little brat!"

Maybe she was telling me something, she thought, which lingered despite her best efforts, maybe she was.

After the second full day of walking with the Jackal, her brain began to seperate Marie from the Jackal, making her two seperate people in one body. One that she liked, one she didn't. One she could trust, one she couldn't.

A walking contradiction.

The Jackal symbolized American excess, present in the way she acted with Joon-ho and when she used English with her pokemon, or to her camera, which she heard, late at night. Who was she talking to on that thing, Seon-hyang wondered to herself, watching late at night as the Jackal chattered away to that hunk of metal, her handlers? The Jackal was a spy for the US military, probably a low level worker suddenly promoted because of nepotism. Maybe her father was a leader in the military, because she heard Joon-ho mention her father a lot, and she saw a picture of him when she snooped around in Joon-ho's stuff. He looked more like a Jackal than Marie, square face, dark hair to his upper neck and a stubbly beard, and a lanky body, but still had none of the traits that they had in books, and was leading a pokemon into battle, what appeared to be the father of one of the pokemon the Jackal owned, the one that looked like an orange piglet. Even her pokemon benifited from nepotism, she snarled to herself. Whatever it was, the Jackal was sent over here with her three pokemon, to start a revolution to overthrow the leader, so the US could control the entire Korean pennisula. However, Marie was incompetent at her original task, failing to gain control of the inner Party or the Korean population with her puppetry, and instead seduced Joon-ho and Yeong-mi as her second plan to overthrow the Marshal and Korean-style socialism, inviting them to join her in the American Empire, with promises of being a pokemon trainer for Joon-ho and something that hadn't been talked of again for Yeong-mi, maybe a job as a drummer? Whatever it was, even though she was incompetent, she was also insidious, seductive even, a living contradiction. She tried to use her body instead of actual promises to get to Seon-hyang, and still tried, taking off her shirt every night, wearing that same bra and stretching every morning, showing off her barely visible muscles, flat stomach, and jutting hipbones, which wasn't seducing Seon-hyang at all, nope. Disgusting. Lewd. Shameful.

(So sexy… So beautiful, a voice at the back of her mind, that she tried to silence, moaned, I need her.)

(I need her)

Marie, on the other hand, was a kind, virtious and selfless woman, like the heroines of the novels she read, and at first, mostly appeared in her dreams. She doted after Seon-hyang like a sister, yet teased her when she felt like it. The Marie in her dreams would take her out on dates, on the shimmering banks of the Taedong in the summer, where the American would splash around in the water and laugh like an excited child, while Seon-hyang would watch her in between reading a bent and worn novel in her right hand, laying on a towel and sunbathing in a thin summer dress and large floppy hat. In the winter, the two would walk around the greys of Pyongyang in large fluffy coats, talking about the girls in Moranbong between puffs of visible breaths. They'd walk home, their home, a large, traditional house on the outskirts of Pyongyang, with a yard, and a view of the wilderness from the back windows. They'd make ginseng tea, with the freshest ginseng given to them, and snuggle in their bed, enjoying and savoring each other's warmth in the cold winter months. They never got as far to doing It as that first dream, instead, they did things that an old married couple would do, like nagging each other and making each other dinner. It felt so real, that Seon-hyang found herself looking across the room when she woke up, only to see the sleeping Jackal. The other times she saw Marie, was when she was awake, and Marie was chattering away about American TV shows or pokemon to the soldier, while he nodded along, intently listening. It made Seon-hyang jealous, that Joon-ho got Marie, while all Seon-hyang got was the Jackal, so jealous that whenever the Jackal showed her face to Seon-hyang, Seon-hyang would attack her. If Seon-hyang pushed the Jackal to the dirt, and held her head down in the mud, dirtying her already messy hair, right hand entangled in it, she'd get a glimpse — just a glimpse — of a very scared Marie, and she'd be satisfied, even though she looked terrified. Unfortunately, that meant that the Lees began to keep the two of them apart, preventing Seon-hyang from even seeing the girl she liked the most, angering her further. She didn't want the Jackal, she wanted Marie! Why did he have her all to himself, and Seon-hyang couldn't have any of her? It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair!

However, Seon-hyang was oblivious to the fact that, slowly but surely, she was starting to see less and less of the Jackal in real life, and more and more of Marie. If her brain noticed, she would have screamed that she was being seduced, and Marie would disappear completely, replaced by the Jackal. Thankfully, that never happened, and it wasn't long before the Jackal almost never appeared. All this came to a head during the night before the 5th day, when Seon-hyang had a very intense dream.

It was the sequel of her first dream, with the two of them running down a never ending hallway, at least that was what it appeared to be. Seon-hyang wasn't nude, wearing a large fluffy green jacket that she recognized as belong to Marie, and a skirt to cover up. Marie was still the same, just looking a little more exhausted and winded. Seon-hyang looked behind her to see several soldiers in North Korean uniform chasing after them, shouting at them to stop. Wait, wait, wait, she was running from her own countrymen? She looked to see that she was still with Marie (how she could tell, no one knows), and not with the Jackal. Had she defected… willingly? Seon-hyang clutched Marie, not knowing what to say, or what to ask her, only knowing that she would lead the two of them to safety. She always did, when things were troubling. That's why they haven't run into any soldiers on the way from Pyongyang, yet.

They turned the corner and were faced with another group of soldiers, lead by the dance director of Moranbong, who yelled out to both packs of soldiers to stop with an enraged expression. All soldiers stopped, and glared at the two, very scared, women, trying to find a way out. The two of them tried to slink away, but they were blocked by the soldiers, a gaggle of both men and women, all carrying assault rifles. They intended to kill them right on the spot. Marie clutched Seon-hyang's hand, and the North Korean saw that the American's knuckles were white as snow. White as snow. White as snow. White as...

"Jung Seon-hyang!" The director yelled, pointing directly at her, which caused her to flinch. "What is the meaning of all this?"

"She doesn't want to be controlled anymore!" Marie screamed, leering at the director, who glared back at her. "I've taught her about freedom!"

The director laughed, a booming, evil laugh. Seon-hyang shuddered in fear, and clutched Marie's arm, trying to get her to keep quiet. If they hurt Marie… She couldn't forgive them. Never. Never.

"Liar." She spat, and Marie stepped forward, causing the soldiers to point their weapons at her head. Seon-hyang tugged on her arm, trying to get her to back down. She couldn't live without her, so she couldn't just let Marie run face first to her death… "You've fed her falsehoods and lies."

"The only freedom is within the Party." The director continued, putting her hands on her hips, and looking down at the two as if they were something filthy and beneath her, like mud on her left shoe. "And Seon-hyang had the most freedom of them all, being a member of the core songun… Joining Moranbong to teach the other, less fortunate population the wonders of the Party... and then, some half-Chinese mongrel from the American Empire seduces her into being her little North Korean doll, to live in her big dollhouse for the rest of her miserable life. Isn't that right, Marie?"

"Don't call me that." Marie snarled, face contorted in barely concealed fury, causing a smirk from the director, and Seon-hyang pushed her back, causing the soldiers to lower their weapons, but they kept them on standby by their sides, just in case Marie attempts a run at the director.

"Oh, I'll call you what I wish, mongrel." The director laughed, a toothy grin growing on her face, which made Seon-hyang shrink down. "You've taken our precious Seon-hyang away from us, and now you're going to pay for your crimes." Seon-hyang pushed herself closer to Marie as the circle of armed soldiers came closer and closer to them with their guns, and began to whimper like a trapped animal. Marie just stared ahead in acceptance, holding Seon-hyang close to her, never letting go. Why wouldn't she fight for herself?

"So what will you choose, Jung Seon-hyang?" The director smiled down at her, stretching out her hand as a half hearted attempt some sort of peace offering to her, and Seon-hyang began to shake violently, until Marie reached a hand out to stroke her side softly, giving her the chance to calm. "The Marshal, Kim Jong-un, or servitude under your precious Marie? Singing with Moranbong, or dying together with your little mongrel? Liberty or death? Choose what you know is right, Seon-hyang."

Seon-hyang didn't have to consider, she didn't even have to think about it. She knew what was right, deep down in her heart. It knew the truth, all this time it knew the truth, even when Seon-hyang tried her best to hide it all. It did, it did, it did, it did.

"M-Marie." She stuttered, hugging the American close to her in a mixture of fear and defiance. The director's face fell from her confident smirk, and she glared at Marie with rage burning in her eyes. Seon-hyang didn't care if she upset her or let her down, didn't care whatever happened to them next, the director could go to hell for all she cared. She chose Marie, not her, not Moranbong, not the Marshal, his father or his grandfather. She chose Marie, not them. "Marie, Marie, Marie, Marie, MarieMarieMarieMarieMarieMarie…" Marie squeezed her arm, and Seon-hyang knew she had a confident toothy grin on her face, that little Jackal, she thought playfully, a small smile growing on her face herself, and slung the North Korean into her arms bridal style, and slammed herself through a side door into a white room with a stairway that Seon-hyang didn't remember seeing, using her hip, but she didn't care. She was in Marie's arms, therefore, she was safe. Nothing could get to her. She had nothing to envy.

"After the traitor!" She heard the director boom at the top of her lungs, and then the stomping of boots on flooring, and Seon-hyang squeezed Marie's hand, telling her to go.

They ran down the stairway, Marie going as fast as she could with a 101 pound, 5'4 woman cowering in her arms, before they reached the ground floor, and dashed through the doors, running down the dark brown hallways and out the exit. Marie dashed out into the streets of Pyongyang, where it was midnight and deviod of any other human beings, and still warm from the blistering heat of the daytime, this dream apparently taking place in the middle of the July heat, before dipping in an narrow alleyway, following it blindly and running out from it into the wide open forest, Seon-hyang shutting her eyes and clinging desprately to Marie, running for another few paces, before Marie looked around, Seon-hyang peeking from her arms.

"It's safe." Marie said softly, causing a pang of relief to wash over Seon-hyang, and Marie quickly put Seon-hyang down feet-first. Seon-hyang wobbled a bit, before clinging to the American's arms like a koala. Marie giggled loudly as she spun the North Korean girl around and around in a circle, and the hugged the North Korean close to her, nuzzling her neck and face, causing a peal of giggles from Seon-hyang, and a hand attempting to push her away so she wouldn't tickle her further.

"You chose me." Marie said in wonder, looking down at Seon-hyang with a toothy grin across her flushed and bloody face. "You chose me." Even though she was covered almost head to toe in the remains of several North Korean soldiers, Marie still had this heavenly quality about her, like she was sent down with the sole purpose of protecting Seon-hyang from harm. Marie reached up to her hair and untied it, letting her wavy, messy dark hair float around her face like a halo. A dark messy halo. Marie was her messy angel.

"How could I not choose someone so wonderful as you, Marie?" Seon-hyang replied, which caused Marie flush bright red and to giggle even louder, and kiss both of Seon-hyang's cheeks, which left warmth on her cheeks. Marie slid her hands, her so soft hands, up to her face, and looked into her eyes with a look of content.

"My princess." Marie said softly, wonder lacing her voice. Seon-hyang felt her face burn bright red. "My princess."

Seon-hyang woke up looking Marie directly in the eyes, who was looking down at the girl with bleary but curious eyes, and messier hair than usual. Seon-hyang blinked twice, trying to focus. Marie still wasn't wearing a shirt, and normally she'd be the Jackal, but for some reason, Seon-hyang couldn't bear to call her anything but Marie.

"What are you looking at." Seon-hyang said dully. Marie blinked and swallowed, afraid of Seon-hyang's reaction, which caused the girl's stomach to drop painfully. She's afraid of me. I made her so afraid that she's unwilling to even talk to me.

"You called out for me." Marie said in an unsure tone. "I thought you were awake and scared of something really big, but then I came over here and saw that you were still dreaming."

"How much did you hear?" Seon-hyang asked in a suspicious tone, glancing at the American. Marie blinked, and shook her head, running a hand through her hair.

"Just my name. I'm guessing you had a bad dream." Marie said, a self deprecating smile on her face. "Because you wouldn't be calling my name if it was a good one. Was I being an evil jackal in your dream?"

Seon-hyang stayed mute. She didn't want to say what happened in her dream, because then Marie could use it against her. But then again, could she? Marie had none of the spy skills she expected of her, she only really knew how to start a fire, and most of her negotiation abilities that she displayed in her room were replaced by joking and story-telling. Who ever heard of an American spy who told stories about baseball and people named 'Who'? Marie mentioned something about gymnastics, but other than that, she wasn't very physically fit, didn't leap into trees to get wood, only looking up wistfully, before sighing and shaking her head, and walking further. North Korean soldiers were trained in martial arts in case they weren't armed in a battle, Seon-hyang had watched groups of male soldiers break wooden boards with their heads during a military event she performed at, and leap over each other like they had springs in their shoes. Marie was practically helpless in hand to hand combat, as Seon-hyang could attest to, not even attempting to fight back, just looking very scared, hoping her assailant would take pity on her. Maybe she thought her pokemon would do all of the fighting, but even then, wouldn't the Americans train her in hand to hand combat in case she failed? Nothing, now that Seon-hyang was really paying attention without irrationally hating Marie, made any sense. Marie wasn't a spy. She couldn't be.

Seon-hyang reached a conclusion, one that she had been close to making for the several days she's known Marie, that Marie was both Marie and the Jackal, and a multi faceted human being to boot, just like her. It felt strange to think that Marie wasn't completely evil, like some sort of fictional villain. Unnatural even. But it was true, and Seon-hyang just had to accept it. She could still be cautious around her, and maybe the stories she told were made up, but Marie appeared to have good intentions. Even from the first day, Marie was just trying to help her or try to stay out of the way of Seon-hyang. Maybe Yeong-mi was right, maybe she had to follow the three of them to find out how different the world was from home. Maybe she'll meet new people. Maybe she won't. Who knows, at this point? It was all new, and frankly, it was all exciting. Seon-hyang wanted to visit far away places, maybe find places like the Taedong, and Nampo beach elsewhere. And she had her friends with her! Her best friends… They'll travel together!

Maybe, Marie would become her friend in real life, instead of in her dreams. Maybe they could live out their dreams in America. Seon-hyang remembered looking at a map of the world as a small child, marveling at the size of America. It spanned from one ocean to another, filled with forest, desert and cities. Marie could teach her about it. Seon-hyang wanted to learn from her, maybe she had something insightful to say…

She chose Marie.

She chose her.

"Was it that bad?" Marie asked, breaking Seon-hyang out of her thoughts, grinning nervous. Seon-hyang decided to humor the girl, and give her an definite answer.

"You were annoying me." Seon-hyang said in complete deadpan. Marie's smile became a little stronger, even though her eyes looked nervous. "In my dream. I was calling your real name to get you to stop annoying me."

"That's a really realistic dream then, wouldn't you agree?" Marie grinned, and Seon-hyang felt like kissing Marie, calming her nerves. It was hard not to think about kissing her, she had the perfect kind of lips, pink and plush. But, the main difference between dream Marie and real Marie is that real Marie was more anxious, more aware of what could happen to her. She didn't appear very courageous, but that didn't mean she was selfish. Seon-hyang waved away her thoughts, and looked at Marie unflinchingly.

"Yes." Seon-hyang said, and Marie hung her head and laughed pathetically. Seon-hyang felt bad for being so hard on the girl, but she was still suspicious of her. Marie had to earn her trust completely, but she was already pretty close. She was kind, rarely yelled or attacked her —unprovoked of course—, tried her best to interact and talk to all three of them, even though Yeong-mi was mostly silent, and Seon-hyang would sneer at whatever she said.

"It's better than being called a spy." Marie laughed, putting her shirt on over her head, fuzzy head popping through, then shaking her head violently, then running a hand through her hair, trying to even it out. No matter what she did, it was still mess, flung up all over the place. Why didn't the American have a brush? Did Americans not have brushes?

"Your hair's still messy." Seon-hyang chirped, and Marie pouted, trying her best to fix it with her hands, eventually choosing to push it behind her ears. "Why didn't you bring a brush with you?"

"I thought I could buy one." Marie said, crossing her arms, still pouted. "Then I forgot about it until we were far away from Pyongyang. Now my mom's going to nag me for my hair."

"Nag you?" Seon-hyang asked, tilting her head to the right in confusion. "How?"

"'Why haven't you brushed your hair since you were on the boat?'" Marie imitated her mother, with crossed arms and a scowl on her face, and a higher pitched voice than Marie's lower tone. "'I told you, you're going to forget to buy your brush the instant you get to China, and now look at you! Your hair looks like a rat's nest! You better not forget to brush your hair again, young lady.'"

Seon-hyang found herself letting out a small giggle and smile at Marie's imitation, and Marie got this light in her eyes at her laughter. She got a positive reaction out of Seon-hyang, which for her was extemrely rarely. It made Seon-hyang feel warm inside, that she made Marie happy for once instead of upset, but she decide not to show it visibly.

"W-Well, why don't we go outside and have breakfast?" Marie said, in a very flustered manner, an tinge of pink on her cheeks. "Some lentil soup as usual." The two girls stood up and walked out of the of the tent, Marie bending down to exit the tent, which was obviously not made for someone of Marie's height.

The place where the four of them had staked out for the night was right by the river, and Joon-ho and Yeong-mi were already out there, boiling their breakfast over by the banks of an unnamed river, one that Joon-ho shrugged when Marie asked what river it was. Seon-hyang walked over and sat by Yeong-mi, who greeted her with a wave and a 'good morning. Marie sat by Joon-ho, and released her pokemon, who all looked eager to eat food, and the two four legged pokemon paced around the fire, while the one named 'Jessica' crawled into Marie's lap, and began to babble excitedly to her, which caused Marie to look down at her with a girn across her face..

"It's about 8 am and you two aren't fighting yet!" Yeong-mi exclaimed, patting Seon-hyang on the shoulder, which caused the girl to jump slightly. "It's a miracle!"

"It's early in the morning." Joon-ho replied, an air of exhaustion to his voice, as he poured out the soup, and distributed it to the four humans and three pokemon, all of whom began to eat eagerly. "They'll probably be at each other's throats in a few hours, noona."

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure, Joon-ho." Yeong-mi said between spoonfuls of lentil soup, which apppeared to be Joon-ho's soup of choice. "You're too harsh on them! My bet is that Marie and Seon-hyang will be inseperable by China. Best friends and all that."

"Maybe." Marie said, a wistful look in her eyes and a sad smile, and Seon-hyang felt disgusting for making her act like that. "Maybe that will happen. I can only hope, yknow? It just seems so hard to get her to like me..."

"I'm here, you know." Seon-hyang said in an agitated tone, and Marie shrugged slight, and laughed a little to herself, which caused the little pink thing in her arms to mimic her laughter. The rest of the breakfast was silent, with everyone focused more on their soup than Marie and Seon-hyang's ongoing feud. Seon-hyang thought about it as she ate, part of her still conflicted over trusting Marie because of her heritage and potential to be a plant by the American or Canadian governments, and could just be leading them to their deaths. But what would she get out of that? Marie and Joon-ho were close, and she was desperately trying to be friends with Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi. Money? Marie didn't appear to be obessed with money, not as much as she was trying to make Seon-hyang laugh. She didn't know what to believe, the Party, warm and comforting, or Marie, warm and comforting as well.

As she thought long and hard about her potential life choices, many of which could affect her in violent and deadly ways, the others finished up their soup, cleaned out the bowls using the several bottles of water Marie had on her (she shrugged and said "Hydration" when asked why she had so many), stacked them together and put them back in Joon-ho's bag, and dismantled the tents. She was only alerted to this change when Marie walked over to her and tapped her shoulder, and Seon-hyang snapped back into awareness, blinking wildly at the girl in front of her, with a serious expression.

"We're heading off." Marie said, and Seon-hyang grabbed onto her muscular arms and pushed herself onto her feet, and Marie grabbed her waist to steady her. Seon-hyang felt her hand burn through her uniform, and almost let herself shudder and lean in. Instead, she rubbed at her eyes pretty violently, which caused Marie to coo and tease: "Were you thinking about me?"

"N-No!" Seon-hyang stuttered, turning away from her, and blushing very hard. "I was thinking about China. How different it's going to be, from now on." Marie's teasing smirk softened into a comforting smile, and she put her hand on Seon-hyang's shoulder, which also made her feel naked, and didn't help her reddened face.

"It will be hard, but I will show you the way." Marie said softly, rubbing Seon-hyang's shoulder, which caused the other girl to shut her eyes and relax out of pleasure. "I wouldn't just leave you to your own devices! There's things over there that you need to be taught to do, and I'll be your teacher."

"Sure you will." Seon-hyang said sarcastically, and Marie's smile dropped, and she trudged away disappointed. Seon-hyang walked after her, grabbing her bag in the process, wishing she could say something nice to the girl for a change. But whenever she talked, something sarcastic and angry came out, causing Marie to slink away, saddened. Seon-hyang hated it! She hated how Marie was almost instantly a threat to her! She wanted to comfort Marie, telling her that it wasn't her fault, she just had to get over the fact that she wasn't evil, like part of her of her brain wanted her to believe she was, instantly.

She was miserable and drowning in self pity the entire walk, keeping to herself and not talking, trying not to worsen the situation at hand. Marie would look back at her occasionally when she thought the North Korean was thinking about other things, a sad look in her eyes. It made Seon-hyang feel worse, and even lentil soup and Jessica begging her to be held couldn't stir any other emotions in her, instead, she just felt even more disgusting than before. The reactionary part of her brain flared up as she walked further with her friends, asking Seon-hyang if she really knew the girl in front of her, did she truly know anything about her? Without her permission, that thought took over her mind, and she found herself saying to Marie, who had whipped her head to face Seon-hyang:

"How'd you even get here?"

* * *

 **notes**

 **\- the song seon-hyang sang as a child is "세상에 부름없어라" or "We envy nothing in this world", from a 1970's movie of that name.**

 **-the arduous march is a north korean code word for the famine that killed thousands of people in the 90s, which was caused by the collaspe of soviet aid to north korea and reluctance for any other countries to support a dictatorship. it offically ended in the late 90s, but people are still dying from the effects of starvation to this day.**

 **-the insult seon-hyang uses to refer to marie; "jackal", is a common insult from a popular north korean novel called "jackals" by han sorya. the story is about a family of white missionaries who murder a young korean child by lethal injection, and the descriptions of the missonary family are used as the 'identifiyng traits' of a jackal in this chapter, except for one, which was describing the missonary's wifes tits, which was as follows "the vixen's teats jutted out like the stomach of a snake that has just swallowed a demon. when i say this insult is super popular, i mean that the leading state authorty on americans as a people is a fucking animal trainer from the circus, and john kerry (current us secrectary of state) was called a jackal in a north korean media release a whopping 130 times.**

 **-the taedong river is a river that runs through Pyongyang.**

* * *

 **anyway happy belated thankstagram. as of right now i have crossed the elusive 50k threshold which means i won nanowrimo for the first time in my 4 years of doing it. thanks to everyone for keeping me writing this! i really appricate it**

 **also you might have noticed the name change from "on a miserable path" to "snowstorm on the yellow sea". basically the first title was a placeholder, and i thought snowstorm on the yellow sea was vauge and actiony enough. plus its a satire of a north korean novel called "snowstorm in pyongyang", which is about the capture of the uss pueblo. unfortunately i have not found any translations to hateread, only passages. shame**

 **in the same vein i finally added a cover image! its of seon-hyang's inspiration that i found while searching moranbong using their name in hangul. thanks to yonhap news for a nice picture its just a placeholder until i make a better cover myself.**

 **im decently along in sun, i just finished the second kahuna and now im on my way to the third, tryin to take my time... my litten evolved, and my team is bewear, lurantis, raichu, lycanroc (sun ver), and my sixth spot is a rotation to help me get through my pokedex ;)**

 **anyway im just happy that im done this extra chapter, because now i can rest and do more important things like my gov work and reseting my chromebook becuase its going fucking nuts again.**

 **marie's pokemon**

 **varaha - tepig m, jessica - clefairy f, nina, nidorina f**

 **joon-ho's pokemon**

 **ggwek-ggwek - magby m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon**

 **n/a**

 **au revoir**


	9. HALLELUJAH MONEY

**authors note:**

 **finally, after so long... i update.**

 **sorry everyone for the wait. i was kind of busy from thanksgiving to now, with a lot of shit hitting me very quickly and very fast. i also wrote and rewrote this chapter, removing some stuff i thought was unimportant or too political for a pokemon fanfic.**

 **i hope you enjoy this long awaited update! the chapter title is from "hallelujah money" by gorillaz (i'm so glad they're back :P)**

 **enjoy and please fav follow and review!**

* * *

With everyone in the train car asleep, and no one boarding on our first two stops, I was left to my own devices. Instead of twiddling my thumbs or falling asleep, I brought up Twitter on my phone, to see if people were making distasteful jokes about Seon-hyang or Yeong-mi yet, and to see if there was anything new since last week.

I would be a complete idiot if I thought anyone wasn't going to make jokes about the situation, laughter being a coping mechanism, but thankfully, most people were refraining from going the cheap route, and were joking about a potential war with North Korea, or the President's remarks about the girls, ("country of liars" being repeated the most). I was honestly surprised that he didn't say that they were a "7 at best". I saw a few pictures of the band dancing together, and then I saw some misinformed people put pictures of a South Korean band, So Nyuh Shi Dae (Girls Generation in English, the name I will use from now on, due to convenience) and claim it was the group. To be fair to the uninformed few, they once had very similar uniforms, during Girls Generation's 'Genie' era - which lasted 'till August 2009 -, both white in color, both uniforms short and included heels, and both military style. However, as I went down my feed, I saw a lot of people calling out a political pundit

for his comments about the women, and out of pure curiosity, I checked the screenshot of the tweet.

It read as follows:

"So what if some US soldier 'abducted' some North Korean girls? I bet they're doing their part to keep our troops satisfied!"

The innuendo wasn't lost on me.

Obviously that pundit — who I will not name, because I'm sure he's been criticized enough for that remark — had never heard the term "comfort women" in his whole life. However, as the 'US soldier' mentioned in his tweet, I was pretty offended by the insinuation. I would never do that to either of them! Ever, ever, ever! If they wanted me to, I wouldn't lay a single finger on them for the entirety of our journey!

(Of course, if Seon-hyang in particular wanted to be touched in that way, well…)

Going down my feed and ignoring what I just thought, I noticed that an alarming amount of Americans seemed to be alright with the insinuation of the North Korean government that one of their soldiers was committing a _war crime,_ a war crime that North Korea — and China as well — had a very personal experience with _._ Of course, no war crime was being committed, but it was still pretty nauseating. Thankfully, most of the people I followed were either calling them out, or retweeting people who were calling them out. It made me feel a little better, but not much.

As I closed Twitter, rubbing my eyes in exhaustion, I felt my phone vibrate twice, and I looked at it to see a text on the top of the screen.

 _20 chicken mcnuggets: Hey, where are you in Seoul? I haven't seen you at all, and Mr. Moreau is asking other kids if they saw you. Worried._

It was Addy. I was surprised I hadn't received any other texts from him during my 5 day absence, only this one. I texted him back quickly, making sure he didn't think I died violently.

 _marie: im fine lol. tell him my boat went the wrong way and i'm in china rn, making my way to beijing._

I sent him a selfie of me on the train, looking very exhausted, hair a total mess, holding up a peace sign and making sure to cut out the sleeping Seon-hyang. I felt sort of bad for lying to Addy, but then again, my response was vague enough that I could fill in the blanks later. Also, if Mr. Moreau wanted to know where I really was those 5 days, I was sure that my dad could tell him.

Addy texted me back instantly.

 _20 chicken nuggets: Oh, so you didn't land in North Korea. That's good._

Only if he knew, I thought to myself, a lump forming painfully in my throat. He sent another text.

 _20 chicken nuggets: Catch any good pokemon?_

 _marie: haha not yet. you get into any movies?_

 _marie: get that hot bf?_

He'd talked to me before we left, in Vancouver, in the booth of a popular Middle Eastern restaurant, with bright mustard walls and loud music playing, between a platter of stuffed grape leaves, about dating and how he was looking towards meeting his special someone while we were in Korea and/or China. I'd teased him at the time, but I secretly hoped for the same, and now look at me, with a very pretty girl who could tolerate me laying on my shoulder, eyes shut, hair splayed across her face, and a soft look on her face, like a sleeping child. Even though we were friends, I was lucky enough to get this close, most of the people I'd liked before at arms distance, too far to touch. Either across the halls of my school or through a screen.

Addy texted me back:

 _20 chicken mcnuggets: No and no :(_

 _marie: you'll find someone lol_

 _20 chicken mcnuggets: What, you did?_

 _marie: ...maybe_

 _20 chicken mcnuggets: Tell me the details!_

 _marie: not over text lol_

 _20 chicken mcnuggets: You gotta tell me Maaaarieeeeeee!_

 _marie: in beijing_

 _20 chicken mcnuggets: ;(_

I smiled as I turned my phone off, and looked over at my companions. Joon-ho was asleep sitting straight up, eyes shut and head drooped over his chest. Yeong-mi was reclining in her seat, dead asleep, snuggled into my old t-shirt. I wondered if they could've rested like this when they were back in North Korea, as a musician and a soldier. It was so peaceful and utterly silent on the train, other than the breaks, which occasionally made noises when stopping at stations, nothing really suspect of an imminent train crash.

I looked out of my window, at the white outside. It reminded me of home, of waking up on Christmas in my house, climbing down the rickety stairs with a bouncing and younger Jessica, giggling and chattering excitedly to me, only about the size of half a 2 liter bottle of Coke at this point in her life.

We managed to only spot the the tree for a split second, before Herman, who was tasked with guarding the house, not for any danger, but just because he was used to doing it when traveling with my dad, nudged us back upstairs, where I saw my mother, on the stairs, wearing baggy sweats and a old white t-shirt with "MACAU" with a bold black font and the flag underneath it (bought during her last trip to Macau, however, she went without me). My mother smiled at me, grabbed my shoulder, began to shake me, and said:

"Marie, we're at the station."

I snapped awake, face pressed uncomfortably to the window, and turned to the person who was shaking me awake. Joon-ho was staring at me with an unreadable expression, with Yeong-mi and Seon-hyang looking at me in concern by his side, peeking over his shoulders. I rubbed my eyes in a sleepy daze, and flushed in embarrassment at my situation, and quickly whipped my head around to see no one else on the train, just us four, no police officers or soldiers. We were safe, for now, at least.

I shook my fear off, and stood up, wobbling a bit due to the disuse of my legs, and we left the train, onto the snow covered platform, which was at least a few feet tall, and made a soft crunching noise whenever I stepped in it. Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi wandered around the platform as the train slowly left the station, visibly excited by the sheer amount of snow. Joon-ho stuck by me, Ggwek-Ggwek awake and squirming in his arms as I dialed my mom's cellphone number. I heard the dial tone, and the phone rang a few times.

"Marie?" My mother asked, a little more awake this time around.

"Yeah, it's me." I said sleepily, stretching a little bit. Joon-ho was cooing to the awake duck pokemon in his arms, which was now whining loudly, flailing its stubby legs. "We just reached Shenyang. Ended up taking the train, like you wanted us to, because of a big snowstorm."

"Good. I'm guessing no one turned you four in?" My mom replied, the reply of 'I told you so' going unsaid. I looked over to see the two girls frolicking in the snow, thankfully not too close to the tracks. Yeong-mi was balling up some snow and turned to fling it at Seon-hyang, who was running away giggling, covering her face. I found a smile growing across my face at the childlike nature. It seemed so long ago that they were no-nonsense cogs in the North Korean machine.

"Marie?" My mother asked, which snapped me back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! We're fine, no one caught us." I said quickly, which garnered a sigh from my mother. "Sorry."

"Well, your father and I about to go to the airport, we'll be in Beijing by 4 AM, in their time of course." My mother continued, and I paced the station. I was oblivious to the stifled giggles behind me, and the soft crunch of footsteps. "We're staying at the same hotel as you and all of the trainers from Alexandria."

"Alright, we'll meet you there. Are you going to Hong Kong see Auntie Yi-" I said, before I felt something soft, wet and very cold hit my face at a very painful speed. specifically my cheek, and I heard Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi burst into peals of laughter. "Ow! 有冇搞錯!?"

"Marie?" My mother asked again, and I wiped my face free of snow and water, shivering a little. Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi ran to Joon-ho, hanging off of him like ornaments on a tree as they peeked at me.

"Sorry, got hit in the face with a snowball." I said, and my mother laughed loudly on the other end. I flushed red, and rubbed my cheek again. "Are you going to visit family?"

"Mmm… We'll see." My mother said, after a long pause. "Didn't Dad tell you why we were coming?"

"Nope. Thought it was to check on me."

"He's one of the guest speakers at the opening." My mother explained, and I widened my eyes. "We wanted it to be a surprise for you."

"Before I landed in North Korea, right?" I said, fidgeting with my hands.

"Yes." My mom said, and a solemn pause fell between us. It was briefly broken when I heard my father's garbled voice talking to my mother, and her equally garbled reply.

"That was your Dad." My mother sighed. "We're going to head out to Vancouver now."

"I'll see you in Beijing then! Love you."

"Love you too." My mother replied, and the line clicked off.

It had never really occurred to me as a child, and really as an adult, that my dad was famous. Probably because we lived in Canada, where he was a relative nobody. But, he was very very famous in the States. The reason why, was he beat a gym (the Miami Gym), with a no loss streak of _6 years_ , on live television. After choosing not to progress to the League, he was the Canadian representative of the Global Pokemon Federation until I was about 12, performing in exhibition matches. My father made an effort to keep me out of the spotlight, rarely bringing me along on GPF's trips. But, there were still pictures of me on the internet, and even a Youtube video of 6 year old me at a awards ceremony red carpet babbling away about pokemon. I guess the Chinese league wanted the star power of my dad to start their league with a bang.

"Are you alright, Marie?" Yeong-mi asked, peeking out from Joon-ho's form like a child. I looked over at her, and smiled lopsidedly. Water dripped from my wet hair, and I shivered.

"Oh, I'm fine." I said, waving my hands quickly. "My mom just told some big news. It's good, though."

The three of them perked up at the mention of 'good news'.

"Are they going to pick us up?" Seon-hyang asked, looking at me in anticipation.

"Nope. My dad's gonna give a speech at the league." I said, and Seon-hyang slumped in disappointment. "...Sorry."

"But what about us?" Seon-hyang complained, crossing her arms. "My feet hurt, my legs ache, I'm tired of walking!"

"We'll try to find out where Joon-ho's parents are, get tickets for the train, and then we'll meet my parents at the airport in Beijing." I said, walking towards the glass doors of the train station. The three followed me in, and were met with a large white tiled room, with the station name in large red font. A large steel escalator curled down to the bottom floor. The three of us stepped on it, and it slowly crawled downwards. As it led us down, I observed more of the station.

It was similar to the Dandong station, grey concrete floors and shiny metal benches. Flat screen TV playing the news, and a vending machine towards the side. The only difference was the amount of people, either walking around aimlessly or sitting on the benches. A large dog pokemon, Arcanine, with a tan mane and red body with stripes meandered towards the exit, towering over his owner. But that was the only pokemon I really saw in that building, probably because it was a seeing eye pokemon. I quickly stepped down the remaining stairs on the escalator, stepping down onto the floor with a soft tap of my boots.

The three followed me down, a little slower than normal, and Seon-hyang immediately looped her arm around mine. She held me tighter than the other times, and seemed to be flitting her head from side to side very fast. I craned my neck to look at what was making her so very upset, and was met by the stares of some of the commuters, with expressions I couldn't read. I pulled her closer and put a reassuring hand on her side, feeling her muscles relax. I lead her out of the train station's glass doors quickly, to prevent her from any unwanted attention, to the outside.

Shenyang was nothing like Pyongyang. Pyongyang had some (barely any, to be completely honest) modern development, sure, but the Chinese city was on another level. The dark buildings in Shenyang towered above us, with large signs and storefronts on the front, with mannequins, TV monitors or chairs in the windows. Cars darted to and fro, and crowds of people passed us by, chattering to themselves and the people around them. Street noise boomed in my ears, concealing anything audible from anyone passing by. Seon-hyang was very obviously shaking now, face blanche and wide eyes darting to and fro and face taut, teeth bared slightly. Her hand latched onto the meat of my arm, digging her long nails painfully into my skin.

"Seon-hyang." I said softly, as the two other North Koreans walked out from behind us, stopping to marvel at the city around them. "Are you alright?"

Seon-hyang didn't respond audibly, just cringed and covered her ears. She looked like she was about to cry, and I noticed her breathing became shallow underneath my palm. I grabbed my bag and fished out my phone and my earbuds, and handed it to her. Her face loosened as she looked at me in confusion, and I mimed putting earbuds in. She put them in, and I opened my phone and hit play on my music library, a soft Chinese folk song playing in her ears. Almost instantly, she loosened her muscles, and shut her eyes and regulated her breathing softly. She slipped her hand onto mine, holding it like it was the only thing keeping her from floating far away. I looked back at the Lee's, checking if they were still there. The two were watching us with wide eyes, Yeong-mi had a mysterious smirk on her face, and Joon-ho looked merely surprised, cradling a wriggling Ggwek-Ggwek, who was eating what appeared to be fish jerky.

"Stay close, I don't want any of us getting lost." I shouted over the noise, and the two nodded.I stepped onto the sidewalk, aware of the girl clinging to me

With that, we aimlessly walked around the city for a good hour, looking for any visible refugee centers Joon-ho's parents could have gone into. No specific building came up, and I felt hope sap from my body. It seemed so hopeless, looking for something that was illegal in China, with a promise of prison time. Why would there would be a visible refugee center, then? I felt my head swim with questions and angry retorts. I only felt tired, my eyes drooping as we passed another restaurant from a restaurant chain called "California Beef Noodle" for the fourth time in the last fifteen minutes. Seon-hyang was faring better than me, smiling and humming along to the South Korean pop songs playing from my phone. I swallowed my irritation and depression, forced a smile on my face, and said:

"How about we stop here to have a bite to eat?"

Joon-ho and Yeong-mi nodded, before they were looking around the neighborhood that we had walked into, full of tall stone grey buildings. I leaned against the side of one building, in the space between two concrete stairways that wasn't covered in snow, and pulled out my bag. I fished through it to find my pokeballs and a handful of fish jerky. I released my pokemon, who glared up at me, hungrily. I gave them each a decent chunk, which they ate ravenously, before I bit into one myself. I watched Jessica toddle up to a reclining Seon-hyang, and hand her an extra piece of fish. Seon-hyang smiled softly and gingerly took the fish jerky from Jessica's claws.

"I think that's all the fish jerky we had left." Yeong-mi said somewhat sadly. That fish was probably one of the last meals she had in her home country before she left, and I felt kinda bad for being sick of it. Instead of vocalizing that, I laid my hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She looked over at me, and gave a withering smile. Nina walked over to Yeong-mi, and sat down at her feet.

"You can pet her head, you know." I said, and Yeong-mi looked over in surprise. "That's the only part of her that doesn't run the risk of her killing you by accident."

Yeong-mi reached over to the blue rabbit pokemon, and stroked her head softly. Nina's eyes closed, and Yeong-mi moved closer to the pokemon, smiling softly. I felt a grin grow on my face, and I turned to look over at Joon-ho.

Ggwek-Ggwek was toddling around the ground, looking in wonder at the sights of Shenyang. Joon-ho was sitting cross-legged close by the little duck, making sure he didn't wander off into the streets. I watched from the corner of my eye as Varaha trotted towards Ggwek-Ggwek, before stopping and snorting a greeting at the Magby. Ggwek-Ggwek was silent for a few moments, before walking over to Varaha and softly chirping at him. Varaha snorted in return and lowered his head so that Ggwek-Ggwek could softly pet him, which garnered a happy quack from the duck pokemon. I heard Joon-ho laugh a loud and extremely happy laugh, and I looked over to see a big grin on his face as he swayed. Seeing the two fire types play with each other was so cute it was almost killing me, and I watched the two pokemon until I heard a door open, and I scrambled to my feet.

I was faced with a somewhat tall and skinny man in his mid-forties, with cropped dark hair and a square shaped face. He had a deeply serious expression on his face, frowning mouth, dark eyes, and wore a dark dress shirt and dark dress pants. Fearing that we could get either yelled at or reported to the police, I quickly gathered my pokeballs and shrunk again the railing as the man climbed down the stairs, a slight but noticeable limp in his right leg. No one but me seemed to see him yet, engrossed in the pokemon around them. I felt my throat begin to squeeze shut, and I felt a cold sweat beginning to form all over. He stopped in front of Joon-ho, observing the pokemon in front of him. He looked up, looking my shaking form directly in the eyes.

"You are a pokemon trainer, yes?" He said, his Chinese a little rough around the edges. This statement caused the three sitting on the ground to look up at the man.

"Y-Yessir." I said shakily, nodding my head as fast as I could.

"I have a job for you, inside." He said sternly, and I found myself smiling nervously. Was this guy going to murder me? Was I seriously going to be murdered after escaping North Korea? "Come now."

I watched as he walked back indoors, and shut the door. I mulled over the decision in my head, before grabbing a foldable pocket knife from my bag and stuffing it in my pocket, and turning to the three Koreans, who were visibly shocked.

"When we go in there," I said, still a little shakily, and all three of looked at me with wide eyes. "Absolutely no talking, okay?"

All three nodded, and I climbed up the steps, opening the wooden door cautiously as all three followed behind me, along with my pokemon. They were just as nervous as the humans, and Jessica demanded to be picked up by Seon-hyang, who obliged.

The interior of the building was of a lobby of a office building, with white walls and white marble floors, with paintings of a far away rocky coast on the walls. The one of the right wall was a distant shot, with frothy waves crashing over grey rocks. The one on the left was a close shot, only showing the rocks, none of the water in the shot. There was no one at the reception desk, just an empty black desk and black comfy office chair. The man stood in the middle of the room with a stiff gait, in front of two brass elevator doors. A large tan dog pokemon, with blue markings on it's back, stood by his side, only up to his knees. I took out my phone to identify the pokemon, which I swore I saw before.

"Herdier, the loyal dog pokemon." iDex stated, and I caught a glimpse of surprise on the man's face, but before I could analyze it, it was gone. "This Pokémon obeys its master's orders faithfully. However, it refuses to listen to anything said by a person it doesn't respect."

"I see that you are interested in my pokemon." The man said sharply and suddenly, and I felt myself flinch. "However, that is not why I brought you here."

I put my phone away, but kept my hand on my front pocket, where my knife was. I looked over at the 3 Koreans, and I saw that most of them had stern, cautious expressions. The man's Herdier glowered at my pokemon, unmoving. Varaha trotted in front of me and glared straight back, his orange and black body visibly stiff.

"There is a wild pokemon in this building's basement." The man continued, always seeming to be looking down at me. "My pokemon is too weak to handle this intruder. I request your assistance."

"Okay, I guess." I said, shrugging slightly. "Are you gonna pay us, though? I really don't want to risk my life down there for no pay whatsoever..."

"How about 500 yuan?"

"Fine by me." I replied, and the man smiled slightly, a mere raise of the corners of his lips. It seemed so artificial, so fake that I found myself breaking into a cold sweat.

"Good. I will be waiting for you on the fourth floor." The man said, and he and his Herdier walked towards the left, into a large wooden door. Varaha snorted loudly and shook his head quickly, before looking up at me with big dark eyes. I gave him a little smile, before turning my attention to the 3 behind me.

"He's paying me to get rid of a pokemon in his basement." I said lowly, so we couldn't be overheard.

"How much?" Joon-ho asked, Ggwek-Ggwek looking at me with curious eyes from his partner's arms.

"Uh…. about enough for us to get lunch, or some new clothes." I said, scratching the side of my face. "I don't know how much won it is."

"Whatever. I understand." Joon-ho said, a small smile gracing his face as he walked towards the elevator, stopping before the doors. "Not like the money from that place matters to us anymore. Lead the way, Marie."

It felt so odd to be using an elevator after 5 days in the forest and 1 day in the run down cities of North Korea, where everything seemed to be several decades behind. Nevertheless, we climbed in, I punched the "B" button, and then the button to close the doors. I turned to my side, to the wall, and I was met with a frightening sight in the reflective metal walls of the capsule.

My reflection looked back at me, but I looked haggard, tired. Under my eyes, dark bags, almost like bruises, were visible. My expression looked exhausted, face almost hollow. My hair was even mattier and greasier looking than usual, sitting almost like a mop on my head, and my clothes were covered in dirt stains and small tears. I immediately felt my heart race at the sight of my haggard self, as it was some sort of enemy. I stepped back, almost colliding into Seon-hyang.

"Marie?" She asked me, grabbing my arm to steady me.

"Nothing!" I said in one breath, before swallowing thickly. All of them were staring at me now, expressions of concern on their face. "I-I just got shocked by my appearance. That's all."

"Why?" Yeong-mi asked, looking at me with squinted eyes. "You just look tired, nothing too horrible."

"I'm not used to looking this tired." I said softly. "...You are?"

"Oh sure!" Yeong-mi said cheerfully. "Practices used to run for hours when we were in Moranbong. I remember… Mi-kyong was it? She passed out on the floor when we first started practicing!"

"What?!" I exclaimed.

"That's not… normal?" Yeong-mi asked, cocking her head in confusion. "I thought it was normal… everywhere?"

"Nope. In fact… why don't we all start a game?" I said, trying to keep an upbeat tone. "Whenever something like this happens again, I'll answer you with either 'Normal' or 'Not normal', alright?"

All three of them nodded, and I heard a beep, as we reached the basement. I peeked through the doors and into the dimly lit basement spread out in front of me, with light concrete floors. Industrial shelves lined the room, almost as if they were walls themselves, towering above us. They were holding boxes up, but from this distance I couldn't tell what could possibly be in them.

I cautiously stepped out, Varaha close beside me, ready to fight. Nothing sprung out at us, so I just sighed and walked a little forward. My companions followed me closely, watching for any pokemon coming from behind us.

We meandered through the maze of shelves, most of the boxes appearing to be containing food and drink. Briefly, I let the question of "what exactly is this man doing with all this food?" pass through my mind, before letting it slide. It was better just to focus on the task at hand, not the wonder, the question surrounding this all. If I thought too much, the pokemon could jump out at me, and attack me while I was stunned. Varaha trotted in front of me, leading me forward even though I was trapped in my own mind.

"Hey Marie?" I heard Seon-hyang speak up, and I turned my head to her. Jessica was walking by her side, looking up at me with a smile.

"Mmm?"

"What… what do you think this pokemon is?" Seon-hyang asked, and I shrugged.

"Probably a Raticate or something." I said. "There's a variant of them that can chew through steel in some parts of America. Judging by the food on the shelves, it's probably just feeding off the food in here."

"Raticate…?" Seon-hyang asked, and I grabbed my phone and opened iDex to the Raticate entry, which I got by battling one back in Canada. I handed it to Seon-hyang.

"Ew! I don't like rats!" Seon-hyang said with a scrunched up face, giving me my phone back quickly, as if it was a real rat she touched. "There better not be any in here!"

"Don't worry." I said, smiling lopsidedly. "I'll get it before it gets to you."

Seon-hyang relaxed at that, and we walked a few more paces before we heard a large BAM, which caused me and Varaha to jump. I stood still for a few moments, in which I looked over at my companions. Joon-ho had frozen in the same way I did, face contorted in a stern expression with eyes scanning the room around him, and Ggwek-Ggwek standing with his claws balled up in fists. Yeong-mi was staring ahead in shock, with Nina staying very close to her with an angry expression on her face. Jessica was cowering by Seon-hyang, who was holding her close with a determined but scared expression.

I heard another bang, then slow, thudding, footsteps. I felt goosebumps form on my skin, and I took a step back.

I turned and watched as a large, dark figure approached Varaha, face and identifying features shrouded in the gaps of dark between the hanging lights of the basement. All I heard was a low growl, a booming one that seemed to be felt throughout the floor. Varaha was hunched over, snarling in response to the aggression.

My hands shook as I grasped for my phone, and prayed quickly that iDex could recognize the pokemon in front of it without an error. It took few more seconds then usual, but it gave me it's results.

"Pangoro, the daunting pokemon." iDex said loudly, cutting into the silence between the growls. "It boasts superb physical strength. Those who wish to become Pangoro's Trainer have no choice but to converse with their fists"

I heard another growl from the Pangoro, as it approached Varaha slowly, footsteps thudding forward. It walked into the light, where I coud deduce it's dark colored mask on its cream face, dark colored fur imitating a open jacket, with a cream patch on its belly. It's dark arms were folded across its chest, and it looked down at Varaha like he was a speck of dirt on the floor, chewing on a green shoot between its teeth. Varaha, however, remained defiant, crouched down to the floor and crawling closer to the panda pokemon, ignoring its snarls.

I turned to Seon-hyang, who looked just as suprised as I did. Jessica was cowering in her arms, squeaking and whining loudly and clutching her jacket.

"Just so you know," I laughed nervously. "That's no Raticate."

* * *

 **i'll try not to cause such a large gap between updates this time. i thought i'd get this done by christmas as some sort of gift? however i over estimated my burnout, and carrie fisher (one of my heroes) died while i wrote this, which just made me more griefstricken. i actually think it added to my overall grief stockpile, which i've tried my best to channel out of me by writing.**

 **anyway, other than this i'm taking drawing classes at night, which are pretty neat. i had to draw mario one night and i'll never see him in the same light ever again. i've also joined a discord chat for writers of pokemon fanfics, which is a support group i didn't know i needed.**

 **i hope you're all surviving, and i hope you liked this chapter!**

 **marie's pokemon**

 **jessica - clefairy f, varaha, tepig m, nina, nidorina f**

 **joon-ho's pokemon**

 **ggwek-ggwek, magby m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon**

 **n/a**


	10. i'm not afraid, i want to keep going

**authors note:**

 **im busy again! i got snowed in today, so i hope you'll enjoy this! sorry for the wait again..**

 **chapter title is from 24 hours(24시간이 모자라) by sunmi (rip wg)**

 **please favorite, follow and review!**

* * *

The Pangoro lunged forward at Varaha, slamming a furry fist towards the orange pig. Varaha managed to jump a distance away from the impact, which left a pretty decent dent in the concrete floor. It's face was contorted in annoyance at the sight of my unharmed pokemon, and I knew I'd have to be careful with trying to battle it. Pangoros weren't the result of a quick evolution early on, they had to be trained to a certain extent, and trained really really hard. If I made one wrong move, I could get Varaha or any of my pokemon killed. I'd have to think defensively.

"Varaha, try a… f-fire attack!" I shouted, briefly forgetting the actual official name of the attack he was using, and Varaha looked over at me with his large black eyes and nodded. Varaha spat out a quick shot of fire, which the Pangoro blocked with a grin by using its arms. However, the bear pokemon didn't realize what Varaha had shot at it, and I watched as its arm caught fire, dashes of blue fire burning its fur. I watched the Pangoro look at its arm in shock, waving it in an attempt to put the fire out, but it continued, filling the room with the stench of burning fur.

Obviously, my stupid ass didn't think about the smoke detectors in the warehouse, which quickly started with a loud screech. From what I could see of the Pangoro, it seemed to be confused by both the burn and the noises around it, looking around in a daze. Varaha snorted softly, before taking a step back, ready to charge a moment's notice. The Pangoro roared in rage this time, and began to charge, and instead of running towards Varaha like a normal pokemon would do, the bear ran towards all 4 of us. We had only mere seconds to redirect ourselves towards the shelves before the pokemon charged forward. It ran undeterred until it slammed into the back wall of the basement with a boom that shook the shelves of cookies that I had pressed my back against.

"What the fuck was that?" Yeong-mi shouted from the other side of the shelves, staring at me with confusion and anger written on her face, before she froze and clamped a hand over her mouth. Joon-ho was by her side, clutching a whining Ggwek-ggwek to his chest as he stared fearfully at the Pangoro, who was laying in a heap on the floor, fire seeming to burn brighter. Nina was standing in the middle of the room, snarling loudly and with her thin purple quills very visible and gleaming in the light.

"I don't know!" I shouted back. "Wild pokemon usually don't target people, just other pokemon!"

I watched as the Pangoro slowly got up, and looked around the room. Seon-hyang looped her arm around mine and held me close, obviously shaking. The bear and I made eye contact as I stepped out from the side, Seon-hyang tugging my arm desperately. The Pangoro roared again, but paused, unmoving. Did it… want to be caught?

"Marie!" Seon-hyang shouted, tugging on my shirt sleeve. I didn't respond, just looked at the Pangoro, who was looking down at me with an unreadable expression and fire spreading to its entire right arm. What was it doing? I stepped forward, and the Pangoro stepped forward again, growling lowly.

Seon-hyang shouted for me again, but I ignored her. I just continued to stare at the Pangoro as it walked further, until it was mere inches away. I looked up at it, and saw that it wore the same expression as before, and I squinted up at it. We stood there, not moving and not paying attention to the shouts from my companions.

I was about to reach for one of my pokeballs before I felt something knock me to the side of the room, and then a sudden boom from behind me. I felt myself fall forwards, and I pushed my arms forward, skidding to a stop and feeling my arms sting painfully and ache. I heard a loud scream from Jessica, and I looked over to see her dashing towards us. Two hands caught my head before it could hit the concrete, and I looked up, feeling my head spin. Seon-hyang had tackled me, and was now cradling me like a child, but I couldn't see her face. The Pangoro had slammed its furred fist down to the ground, and I felt burning heat rise up from my belly. The bastard had tricked me!

Before it could take a run at the two of us again, I watched as Varaha took a running charge at it's legs, knocking it off balance. It crashed to the ground and roared again, and I stared in amazement. However the wonder wore off fast, I had to act fast or Varaha was most definitely going to die, so I sat up and reached for my bag as Seon-hyang cried out and yanked my shoulder back somewhat painfully and the Lees rushed over to stop me. I grabbed a pokeball, and flung it the best I could with my shoulder being restrained. I watched as the collapsed Pangoro was retrieved into the ball with a red light, and for the first time in a long time, I clasped my hands and prayed to God that the ball wasn't going to fail. I whispered a prayer to myself softly as the ball rolled around, once, twice, thrice, before a click interrupted my thoughts.

"Thank f-fucking Christ." I said, as relief washed over me in a massive wave. I walked over to the ball, picking it up. I pulled out my phone, and turned iDex on. I let it scan my pokeball, before reading the information on my phone. It read as follows:

POKEMON SPECIES: Pangoro

NICKNAME: unnamed

LEVEL: 33

GENDER: Female

CAUGHT IN: Shenyang, China

IDENTIFICATION NUMBER: 199501

MOVES:

Arm Thrust

Bulldoze

Vital Throw

Karate Chop

CURRENT TRAINER: Marie Guangyu Jones

PREVIOUS TRAINERS: Unknown

Before I could do anything further, like contemplate on the fact that iDex was using my middle name for whatever reason, Seon-hyang pulled me into her arms and held me close to her chest as she began to sob violently, running her hands through my hair.

"M-M-Marie you idiot!" She sniffled, and I looked up at her, and saw that blobby tears were dripping down her face. I felt my adrenaline run out, replaced with surging regret. "You could have _died!_ That beast could have snapped you like a twig, and-and-and! I could have lost you forever…!" I said nothing, because I had no retort to give. She was right, I almost _died_. I only leaned against her and wrapped my arms around her, as she continued to sob. I heard the scuffling of feet, and I felt two other bodies wrap around me and Seon-hyang. I looked up to see a very scared Yeong-mi and an absolutely frightened Joon-ho. Any words I could've said to the three got caught in my throat, and I merely sat there silently, crushed in the embrace of my three friends. Even through all the shame, I felt warm deep in my heart, and a smile grew on my face. Seon-hyang cared about me enough to risk her own life to save me, even though she could've just watched me die, like she would a few days earlier. I clutched her closer in response to that thought.

I felt myself sigh softly as I grabbed my phone. I thought about releasing the Pangoro into the wild or sending her into the GTS, an internet service dedicated to the transport of pokemon, so that I could get a different pokemon, but something irrational in me disagreed. If I sent her to the GTS, I'd probably get a even less obedient pokemon back, and besides, my dad would be around for the next few days, and could help me gain her trust. So, I found myself tapping the area for a nickname, and typing "Yifei". I clicked the 'confirm' button, and listened to the two tone bell that signaled that my name choice had been saved to the Worldwide Pokemon Database. I looked for my pokemon, the best I could without having my vision blocked by Seon-hyang's arms or chest. Jessica was desperately trying to snuggle in between Seon-hyang and me, Nina was by Yeong-mi and Ggwek-ggwek's side, protecting them silently, and Varaha was…

I shot up to get a clearer view of the pig pokemon, who was surrounded by a bright white light, and the three defectors scrambled to their feet. I watched in wonder and through squinted eyes as Varaha's form shifted and grew taller, about to my knees. Finally, the light dissipated, and I was met with a changed but still similar Varaha, standing upon two legs and a lot rounder and egg shaped, with two short muscular arms. His dark markings seemed to resemble a wrestler's clothes now, the ones on his face resembling a mask and the ones on his belly resembling a singlet with two gold decorations on it. Varaha took a few moments to examine his new form, before breaking into a confident smile and walking towards us. I pulled out my phone again, and let it scan over a smugly grinning Varaha.

"Pignite, the Fire Pig pokemon." iDex stated, and Varaha seemed to nod smugly. "Whatever it eats becomes fuel for the flame in its stomach. When it is angered, the intensity of the flame increases."

"Well." I said, turning to my friends, who were looking at Varaha in awe as he flexed his arms. "I think that's the only one in here. Let's get out of here, just in case there's more."

We scrambled for the exit, not trying to anger any potential pokemon that could be hidden in the shadows of the basement. We practically jumped into the elevator, and I pressed the "4" button, watching as the doors closed on that goddamn room.

I sighed and rested against the walls of the elevator as it rose, and I rolled up my sleeves to check on my arms. The flying skid I had preformed back there had beat up my arms pretty bad, with some of my skin tearing off to reveal patches of raw pink and a few shallow red cuts. I touched one of the pink patches, and grimaced as it stung and throbbed with pain. Seon-hyang, who had never left my side after my misadventure, visibly stiffened at the sight of my beat up arms.

"I did that..." Seon-hyang said softly while looking down, touching my shirt sleeve tentatively. "I… I-I'm sorry Marie."

"Why are you apologizing? You're the one who saved my life!" I laughed, and Seon-hyang looked up at me in confusion. I bent down slightly and softened my voice. "So, thank you."

Seon-hyang's face turned a deep pink, and she looked away with a small grin on her face. I looked over at Joon-ho, who was clutching Ggwek-ggwek close to his chest as it whimpered loudly and kicked its little legs against his chest.

"Doesn't that hurt?" I asked up, and Joon-ho looked up at me in confusion. "His legs?"

"I've been through worse." Joon-ho said with a grin, as he set Ggwek-ggwek on the ground, by Varaha, who grinned down at the curious duck pokemon. "Military training was not very kind to me, and the lack of food made it even more unforgiving." I made a noise that sounded like the air was rushing out of my stomach, through my teeth.

"Well, as you've seen, I'm not exactly… military material." I joked, and spotted Varaha showing off to the duck pokemon, who was clapping rather clumsily. "That Pangoro would've probably snapped me like a twig if Seon-hyang hadn't dived in." Seon-hyang went stiff again at my remarks, and her hand clutched at my upper arm protectively.

"I still can't believe I thought you were a spy the first time we met." Yeong-mi snorted, as Nina looked up at her with curious eyes. "You're too dorky and cute to be a spy."

"I'll take that as a compliment." I said, before the elevator doors opened to a tan hallway with brown spongy carpet. The four of us stepped out, and I lead them to where I thought we were supposed to meet the man, so I could get my payment, and I pulled open a wooden door and went inside.

The room seemed less like an office and more like the living room of a house, with marine green walls and the same brown spongy carpeting as the hallways. There was a massive brown leather couch in the middle, in front of a flat screen TV playing a very loud variety show. Off to the right, there was what appeared to be a kitchen area, not very big, with wooden cabinets and sand colored counters. There was a gas stove, and a over and a white refrigerator, but nothing too extravagant. The man from earlier was sitting on the couch, with a woman, about his age, potentially his wife? She had a more muscular frame than me or any of the girls to be honest, and had bleach blonde hair up to her neck. The two visibly jumped in shock as they heard us approach, and the man stood up.

"Well… I come back successful." I said, juggling Yifei's pokeball cautiously. "She was a big lady, but I managed to catch her."

"Oh, good!" The man said, standing up and walking towards me. "Thank you so much, young woman."

"You're welcome, but, do you… possibly have a first aid kit?" I asked, as I rolled up my sleeves. I watched the man grimace in pain. "I… took a little spill."

"Of course! Come here." The man gestured to a chair by the counters. "And why don't the rest of you make yourselves at home?"

I didn't bother telling him that the three of them couldn't speak of lick of Chinese, but my friends seemed to be trying to fit in, wandering about the room. I sighed and shook my head, as the man went behind a counter, and all I heard was the noises of boxes being moved and crashing together. I decided to focus my attention to the variety show playing behind me to minimize the stress.

"Our next guest has come here all the way from America." The host said, a lanky man with dark shaggy hair around his ears and square glasses. "He's come back to his hometown of Beijing to challenge the new Chinese League! Please welcome, Conor Li!"

Conor looked to be about Joon-ho's age, maybe even a little younger. He wore a casual t-shirt, open black suit jacket, and dark colored jeans. He had his dark hair cut in a spiky style, similar to a typical Korean boy band member, and had a round face with dark smiley eyes as he bowed and shook the hand of the host. He was alright looking, and I was half expecting Addy to text me and tell me about his crush on him. But what made him so special, enough that he could appear on Chinese TV? I, unfortunately, had my attention wrenched away from the TV before I could find out any juicy details, as the man had found the first aid kit. He opened the big plastic bin, and poured what appeared to be peroxide onto a fluffy cotton ball.

"This is going to sting." The man said, reaching for my outstretched arm. Yup, definitely peroxide. I braced myself for the pain, as the man held my arm up and pressed the cotton ball to my arm. For a good 20-30 seconds, all I felt was white hot pain, and I gritted my teeth hard so I wouldn't yowl to the heavens. After the pain had finally subsided, and my arm was getting bandaged, I looked back at the TV.

"So, Conor," The host continued, and the TV panned to a reaction shot of him. "We've all heard the rumor that Marie Jones, the daughter of the famous GPF trainer Thomas Jones, might be coming to China."

I did a double take at the TV. A graphic of a 17 year old me smiling with longer wavy hair up to my chest and a white t shirt, probably taken from a school picture, popped up on screen.

"I've heard that as well." Conor responded with a smile. I was so engrossed that I didn't notice that I was getting my other arm treated until I felt the sting of peroxide.

"If she is indeed coming, do you think the two of you could potentially be rivals?"

"I'm honestly looking forward to battling her, if she is coming." He continued. "Her family is practically considered a dynasty back in the States. Battling her would be incredible."

A dynasty? I thought about that for a minute. There's my dad, of course, my uncle was a gym leader in Boston for a while before life intervened, my aunt was a college professor, my other aunt was a gymnastics coach, my uncle Rich did… something, my cousin was traveling America on his journey as part of his gap year, and my grand uncle had been a gym leader in Toronto for decades. Other than my father, uncle, and grand uncle, I wasn't really born into a dynasty, at least one that I knew of. I shrugged it off, maybe they were just being dramatic.

"I think they'll be more than rivals." Another guest on the show teased, a young woman who was either an actress or a singer, and the scene cut to Conor laughing with a blush effect added on his cheeks. I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.

After my arms were properly cared for and I got bored of the TV show, I got up and scanned the room. Yeong-mi and Seon-hyang were lounging on the couch, watching the show, Jessica dead asleep on Seon-hyang's lap. However, I couldn't find the woman or Joon-ho, which caused a pang of fear to overcome me.

"Hey, where's Joon-ho?" I whispered to Yeong-mi. I didn't notice the man had walked over, and was listening to my conversation.

"Oh, he and that lady went off somewhere." Yeong-mi, and I felt another pang of anxiety come over me.

"Where exactly?" I asked, trying to keep my tone leveled. Yeong-mi shrugged, and I swallowed my anger. I was about to say something, before the man interrupted me.

"I know where they are." The man said in perfect Korean, with the northern accent. "Follow me." I swung my head towards him and felt my eyes widen.

"You're…!" I managed to say, before the man interrupted.

"A defector. Yeah." He said sharply. "My personal history doesn't matter right now, follow me."

I shut my mouth, and the three of us followed the man out of the door towards the left. We walked in awkward silence through a similar looking hallway, brown carpet, light tan walls, with wooden doors on either side. It took a few minutes for anyone to start talking.

"Where are you three from?" The man asked.

"Pyongyang." Yeong-mi answered, a smile on her face.

"Mmm.." The man muttered thoughtfully, putting hand over his lips. "Odd."

"Odd?" Yeong-mi asked, cocking her head.

"Core class members usually don't defect." He said, rubbing his face. "Were you living at the Shenyang consulate?"

"No… my parents live in the Beijing embassy, but I stayed in Pyongyang." Yeong-mi said, a nervous smile on her face, and I felt my eyes widen again at this new information. "I had a job, so I didn't need to go abroad."

"Why'd you leave, then?"

"My cousin was defecting already." Yeong-mi explained. "He told me that I could be executed in his place."

"So the other kid is your cousin, I assume?"

"Yeah." Yeong-mi smiled. "He left the military, because he wants to be a trainer, so our families can have a good life."

"I see, I see." The man said softly, before turning to me. "And you?"

I explained my story to him, watching his face carefully. He didn't appear to be eyeing me suspiciously or taking my story as a joke, so that seemed good.

"Hm." He replied, after my story was done. "If you were anyone else, I wouldn't believe you."

"But..?" I said with a cock of my head, still a little anxious.

"But you look like you've been traveling through North Korea for 7 days." He said, a thin smile on his face. Before I could make a smart reply to that, the man stopped in front of a door, and moved closer to listen. After a second, he turned to face us, expression unchanged.

"They're in here." He said, opening the door slightly. The three of us clamored in, before the man slipped in, closing the door behind him.

The room was much smaller than the others, with white walls and dark wood flooring. Joon-ho was sat a desk, with the woman by his side watching with a wide smile. Joon-ho was at a laptop, and from what I could see, he was connected to some sort of video call. He turned his head towards us as we entered, and beamed. He gestured for me to walk forward, so I did.

"Mom, mom, mom." Joon-ho said, pulling me gently towards the laptop, and I felt my heart rise at Joon-ho's words. I looked at the screen, and was faced with a woman, Joon-ho's mother, who was about 50 years old or so, with dark hair tied in a bun behind her head, a hard square face and serious eyes like her son. She appeared to be in a white walled room, and I could see no one else in the room, and she was wearing a white t shirt with a cartoony design. Her eyes were wet, and she was frequently sniffling and rubbing her eyes. "This is the girl who led me out of North Korea!"

"Hello." I said, and bowed the best I could while kneeling on the floor. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am."

"You're the girl who saved my son?" She asked. "Marie?" I nodded in response.

"I don't - I don't know how I can thank you…" She said, wiping away tears that were beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. "We were so worried about how he was doing in the army, if he was dead because we defected. I could barely sleep!"

"You're welcome." I smiled warmly, and Joon-ho put his hand on my shoulder.

"Are you a defector as well?" Joon-ho's mom asked, and I shook my head. "Chinese, then?"

"My mom is. I was born in Canada."

"I see. Well, if all Canadians are as nice as you, we might as well move there!" Joon-ho's mother laughed heartily, and I laughed as well. "Joon-ho, did you see Yeong-mi before you left?"

On cue Yeong-mi walked over to us, a grin on her face as she sat down.

"Hiya auntie!" Yeong-mi waved at the computer, and soon all 3 of them were chattering about something that I couldn't follow. I glanced over to Seon-hyang, who was sitting against a wall, alone and looking mildly upset, very interested in glaring at the potted plant in the corner. I beckoned her over, and watched as she sat down besides me.

Seon-hyang gave me a sad smile, before intertwining her hand with mine. Her hand felt soft and delicate, and even though we had held hands and interacted physically so many times before, I felt like I had just held her hand for the first time. I ran my thumb across the palm of her hand lightly, reveling in the feeling of her hand clasped in mine. Seon-hyang was looking down at our hands smiling softly, calmly, like she was watching something she liked. She idly twirled ad untwirled a few strands of her dark hair around her index finger, almost nervously. I don't know why everything felt so special in that moment, but I felt myself fixate on nothing but her, how she felt so _alive_ and so _real._

"...Marie?" Yeong-mi asked, and I snapped out of my trance with a shake of my head. "Are you alright?"

"Yup, yup yup yup." I said quickly, I rubbed my eyes tiredly, then stood up, leading Seon-hyang up with me. "If that's all, let's head back to the train station."

"How are you going to get there?" The man asked, an incredulous look on his face. "It's halfway across Shenyang from here."

"We'll walk." I shrugged.

"No, you're not walking." He said sternly, the hard look back on his face. "I'm driving you there."

"Alright." I said, and that was that.

I found myself several minutes later in the back seat of a dark car, most of my pokemon packed away, driven by a stranger I barely knew, and holding onto a squirming Jessica and a bundle of yuan, the former of which was desperately trying to climb all over me and the light grey cushions to look out the window. I could almost hear my parents screaming. Yeong-mi sat beside me, arms crossed and looking extremely bored, staring forwards. Seon-hyang was playing with her nails, squished between Yeong-mi and Joon-ho, who was dead asleep, face pressed to the window. Ggwek-ggwek was just sitting in his arms, looking as bored as possible.

"So…" I said, as I tried to stop Jessica from climbing on my face, getting a foot to the face in the process. "What is it that you and that lady… do?"

"Oh, we house defectors on our free time, and try to get them to South Korea." The man said, rather nonchalantly for someone who was probably saving lives.

"So that's why you know Joon-ho's mom!" I realized, as Jessica whined loudly and pouted. "I get it now!"

"Yep." He said, and the conversation died a quick death after that.

The rest of the car ride to the station was completely silent, and Jessica had to slap my already injured right arm to stop me from dozing off. Yeong-mi went down relatively early, body bowled over and loudly snoring. Seon-hyang was visibly fighting sleep, I'd see her with her eyes closed for a few seconds, before she would abruptly snap awake with a snort, eyes darting around. Joon-ho did not wake up at all, even when a car behind us blared its horn, snapping all the others awake and causing Jessica to squeal uncontrollably until I calmed her down.

After what seemed like forever, I saw the distinctive white round shaped building of the Shenyang train station. It had begun to snow again as the car stopped in the parking lot, little fat flurries in the air amongst the dark sky, which was odd for 11am. Seon-hyang shook the Lees awake, Yeong-mi waking up much easier than Joon-ho, who took a few shoves to the arm. We piled out of the car, and I turned to the man, who had rolled down the drivers window.

"Thank you for driving us here!" I said in Chinese, aware of the potential for others to hear us.

"Oh, it's nothing." He replied, a real smile on his face. "I needed to pick my daughter up from school, anyways."

"Have a nice trip!" He shouted as he pulled out of the parking lot, and all of us, even Jessica, waved at him until his car disappeared into the horizon.

"Well that was nice, I guess." I said, as we began to walk across the parking lot. Jessica was looking around in my arms, making a soft humming noise.

"Oh, right." I said, and turned to Joon-ho. "Did the lady tell you where your parents are now?"

"Mom said they flew to South Korea." Joon-ho said, a wide smile on his face. "The government does some sort of rehabilitation program for defectors who end up there, 'cause it's so different outside of North Korea."

"That's great!" I exclaimed, and Jessica made a happy squeal as well. "It's really good that they're safe, yknow? I didn't want you to have to like worry about them, and beat yourself up about it."

"I'm glad too." He said, before rummaging through his pockets, the best he could with Ggwek-Ggwek asleep in his arms. "The lady at the building gave me the number of the program, so we could call each other." I gave him a thumbs up as he managed to hand me the crumpled piece of yellow paper with the digits, which I copied into my phone.

We made our way towards the wide entrance doors, after me and Joon-ho retrieved out pokemon, and into the interior of the train station. After I took a brief detour to buy us our tickets to Beijing, which was coming in about 15 minutes, I went to one of the side rooms, followed by my three friends, who were looking around them in awe and confusion.

"What are you looking for, Marie?" Seon-hyang asked.

"There should be a device for me to heal my pokemon some… Oh!" I said, before I turned and was faced with a large grey device that reached about to my hip, almost resembling a table, but with little circular notches on the surface, which had a light blue glow to it. I quickly slung my bag onto my shoulder, and unloaded my 4 pokeballs, and placed them on the device, garnering a small mechanical chime. I waited a few seconds as the machine roared to life, before a loud 'ding' alerted me that my pokemon were healed. I scooped my pokeballs up, and put them in my bag.

We walked over to the main lobby, and not one second after we sat down, surrounded by other passengers, did the bell ring alerting us to the incoming train. I groaned and got up, and we marched towards the platform, as the incoming train screeched to a halt. All of us boarded, and I beelined to the corner of the car that had the least amount of people, and thankfully, we had enough seats for all of us to sit together. Almost instantly, Joon-ho and Seon-hyang fell asleep, and Yeong-mi and I were the only ones awake in the cabin. I looked over at her, and saw that she was reading a book titled "Kim Jong-Il on Songun Policy".

"What's with the book choice?" I asked, and Yeong-mi looked up at me.

"It's either this, or a stamp catalogue from 2010." Yeong-mi said, frowning slightly. "Do you have anything different?"

"I, uh, have…" I said, digging through my bag for books. "Uh… 'The Handmaiden's Tale' by Margaret Atwood." I held it out to her, and she just blinked in response.

"It's in English." She deadpanned.

"Oh, right." I laughed awkwardly, putting it back. "Forgot for a second."

"Mmm." Yeong-mi said, and we fell silent for a few minutes. I looked out the window, admiring the wintery Chinese countryside, full of villages and farmland.

"Marie." Yeong-mi asked suddenly, jolting me back to awareness.

"Mmm?"

"What do Canadians think of North Korea?" Yeong-mi said, turning to me and looking at me expectantly. I felt my throat go dry at her question. I didn't want to break it to her that North Korea, in both Canada and America, was considered a joke, with movies and books dedicated to how stupid they were. I swallowed hard.

"Well, what do you think they think of North Korea?" I asked.

"I think they are afraid of North Korea." Yeong-mi said with some amount of pride. "Because we won the Motherland Liberation War, and have all these weapons now, like the A bomb."

I took a deep breath in. I thought it would be better to break it to her kindly, rather than have some asshole make a 'North Korea Best Korea' joke in front of her.

"Well, in Canada… North Korea's kind of a joke." I said shakily.

"Excuse me?" Yeong-mi asked, sort of offended.

"A lot of people don't take North Korea very seriously." I continued, and Yeong-mi looked more confused and depressed than actually angry. "Because the system you grew up in is very weird and wrong compared to America and Canada."

"Really?" Yeong-mi asked sadly.

"Mhm." I said, laying a hand on her shoulder. Yeong-mi just stared at the book sadly, unmoving.

"Give me an example of what people think of North Korea." Yeong-mi demanded suddenly, looking up at me with determination in her eyes.

"Well…" I said nervously, taking out my phone, and flipping through it. "There's this American movie called 'The Interview', let me see if there's a version of the trailer with Korean subtitles."

After a few minutes of searching, I managed to find it, and we began to watch. I had already seen the movie after being roped into it by a couple of friends from high school, and didn't laugh the entire time it was on, so I mainly watched Yeong-mi's expression. She was already pretty upset, her brow furrowed and her lips pursed. But as the first mentions of North Korea and Kim Jong-Un as punchlines came trickling in, she began to look sadder and sadder, and she shook her head and said "no" softly. As the first shots of Pyongyang showed up, with the women in hanboks dancing and James Franco giving his dumb speech, Yeong-mi's face scrunched up, almost if she was about to cry. She stayed strong until the actor playing Kim Jong-un showed up with a gaggle of half naked women, and then she broke down into silent sobs muffled by her hands. I shut the trailer off and scooped her up into my arms and held her for a few minutes as she let it all out of her system.

"I shouldn't have shown you that." I said softly. "I'm sorry."

"No." Yeong-mi said, muffled by my shirt. "I-I asked, it's my fault."

"If it makes you feel any better, I thought the movie was stupid." I said, and I got a hollow laugh in response. "And I didn't laugh at all."

"I worked my whole life to please the Marshal." Yeong-mi whimpered. "And now it's all a joke…"

"It's not your fault that you were born into that society." I said, rubbing her back softly. "Pleasing Kim Jong-un was all you knew how to do, back there."

Yeong-mi's breathing began to stabilize, and she disconnected herself from my arms, looking at me with puffy red eyes and a sad smile. She rubbed at her face, and sniffled softly.

"Sorry for crying all over your shirt." Yeong-mi said, and I waved it off.

"I can wash it at the hotel." I said with a smile. "And besides, I'm sure that you'll be fine out in Canada. Music learning is probably the same as it is in North Korea, and Joon-ho told me you're really talented."

"He told you that?" Yeong-mi smiled bashfully. "Geez, that dummy… I like acting better..."

We stayed silent for another few moments. Yeong-mi had given up on her book, probably due to the disillusionment she had just experienced, and was just staring at the seats in front of her. I shifted in my seat, and looked out the window at the countryside again.

"Marie?" Yeong-mi asked, and I looked up again.

"Mmm?" I asked, looking at her with a tinge of worry. I didn't want to upset her again.

"What are your parents like?" Yeong-mi asked, a smile on her face. I felt a sense of relief at this question, nothing that could hurt her feelings.

"Oh, my mom's about my height and build but more muscular, with tanner skin and longer hair. She has a sort of oval shaped face, and eyes like mine." I smiled softly, and Yeong-mi leaned in, very interested. "My dad says I have her looks, he's a bit shorter than my mom and me and a little more chubby, with short brown hair, a square face, and green eyes."

"Oh, I see." Yeong-mi nodded. "How'd they meet?"

"My dad was on a pokemon journey across America, and my mom was a professional gymnast." I explained, and I watched Yeong-mi's eyes go wide. "My dad happened to wander in on one of her performances, and he was impressed enough that he stayed behind to talk to her, and that was history."

"Woah…" Yeong-mi said, a smile crossing her face. "My parents met in college, that's all for me. My mother was training to be a nurse, and my dad was training to be a diplomat." I laughed.

"Have they told you anything about Beijing?" I asked, and Yeong-mi looked thoughtful.

"I honestly don't think they've left the embassy." Yeong-mi said thoughtfully, holding her chin with her hand. "They never mentioned anything about Beijing in their letters."

"Oh, I thought you could give me some travel advice." I giggled softly, which garnered a smile from Yeong-mi. "Cause I've never been in this part of China, where my family lives is more to the south."

"Sorry." Yeong-mi smiled sadly, and I shook my head.

"Ehh, it's fine." I said, running a hand through my messy hair. "My mom can be our guide, she's been to Beijing before."

"I always wanted to go, to be honest." Yeong-mi said, looking out the window at the countryside. "Beijing always seemed so far away, and all the books I read were not very specific about China."

"That's odd." I said, rubbing my chin. "I would think that you'd know a lot, with your parents being there and all." Yeong-mi laughed dully.

"Now that I'm here, I want to know more." She mused, putting her hand on her chin. "Everything is weird and new, and I wan- I need to find out why! Do you get it?"

I nodded.

"It's like… that movie… I want to understand why people think like that!" Yeong-mi continued, getting slowly more excited, eyes becoming wide and a smile growing on her face. "I want to see how different people's lives are here, and around the world! How different everything is from North Korea."

Before I could give a proper response, I heard a loud bell come over the loudspeaker, and the gravely voice of the conductor announcing our arrival in Beijing, and I whipped my head too see the grey concrete platform surrounding us. Yeong-mi and I shook the two others awake, and we grabbed our bags and headed out of the train, and made a beeline for the doors when we stepped on the cold platform.

The Beijing train station was massive, curved windowed ceiling towering above us, letting in the light from outside. There were tons of benches and terminals to buy tickets from, and tons and tons of people darting around. What caught my attention the most were the large trees poking up from large grey flower pots. The three defectors stood around, awestruck by the building, and I softly nudged them to get them moving.

"I saw pictures of Beijing." Joon-ho said in amazement as we moved towards the exit, dodging crowds of people. "But I never thought it would be so… big in real life."

"I didn't either, honestly." I said, before stopping at the entrance and turning to Seon-hyang and grabbing my phone and earbuds. "It's going to be pretty loud out there, so I think you'll need these." Seon-hyang smiled at me and put my earbuds in, and I turned the music on.

As I predicted, the street noise and in general, the things happening on the street were pretty intense, with chattering people, horns honking, and loud ads for a nearby store sale on DVDs playing over a loudspeaker. The building towered above us, full of glinting windows and big ads for all sorts of things, and cars dashing past us. I knew that I couldn't just meander my way through Beijing like I did for the last few cities, so I walked over to the curb, and held my hand up, calling for a taxi. After a few minutes of holding my arm up with decreasing strength, I saw a dark vehicle pull up to the curb, and I led the confused North Koreans to the car, and we entered it.

"Could you take us to Four Seasons Beijing?" I asked, and the driver, an older man, nodded in response, and we headed off.

"Marie, what is this?" Yeong-mi asked, a fearful look on her face.

"It's a taxi." I smiled, and Yeong-mi just looked at me in bewilderment.

"A what?" She whispered.

"You pay someone to drive you to your destination." I explained, but Yeong-mi just looked confused.

"Can't you just take a bus?" She asked. "That's what I did in North Korea."

"I don't know when the buses come, or where the stops are." I said. "That's why taxi's are a little bit more reliable, because you can tell them where you are going."

"This is so weird." Yeong-mi huffed, crossing her arms.

We reached our destination in about 20 minutes, give or take a few of course. I paid the fare, and we set off towards the hotel, which was a large, brown modern building that glinted in the brief bits of sunlight. We made our way towards the entrance, with the 3 looking around them in curiosity. The big glass motion sensitive automatic doors were probably the most interesting thing, with Seon-hyang playing with it by sticking her hands out in front of her, and laughing when the doors opened. I saw people from indoors staring at her with a confused expression, so I gently hustled her along.

The lobby was a massive, light colored room, almost yellowish. The floor was covered in a brown rug with a odd design in a darker brown. The reception desk was made of a dark mahogany wood, behind it were receptionists and modern computers, and there were wood paneling on the wall behind it made of the same kind of wood. There were flowers everywhere, on the floor in pots, or on the wooden table in the middle of the room, mostly orange and yellow ones. The three others looked around them in wonder as I walked quickly over to the reception desk.

"I-I have a reservation." I said nervously to the woman behind the desk, about 30 or so years old with her long hair pulled into a tight ponytail. She looked at me with a blank expression. "Jones, Marie?"

"You're 2 days early." The woman said dully, after typing away at her computer for a moment.

"Yes, I understand," I said, with increasing desperation. "B-But I messed up and took a flight early, and I can't go back to my house in Canada until June."

The woman just stared at me, and I tried my best to look like a sad, homeless puppy.

"Well, you're lucky the room's vacant." The lady said, reaching under her drawer and pulling out a room card. "Room 915. Have a nice stay, and tell your friends over there to slow down on those cookies."

I turned to see Joon-ho and Seon-hyang shoving as many chocolate chip cookies as they could into their hands and trying their best to hide it, looking over their shoulders. Yeong-mi was sitting on one of the chairs towards the middle of the room, watching the two with a mildly annoyed expression. I thanked the woman before walking over to them, watching as they tried to shove the cookies into their clothes.

"You should put some of the cookies back." I said lowly, and Seon-hyang pouted at me. "There'll be more of them when we come back down."

"But what if there isn't any, and these are the last cookies we can get?" Joon-ho pleaded, looking very desperate. "And then, it turns out that there's a mass shortage of cookie materials, and we can't get any in China?"

"Then I'll tell my parents to get us cookies from Canada." I said, and Joon-ho relented, putting some back. Seon-hyang soon followed her, and we walked over to the yellow tinted metal elevators, and entered the metal capsule after I pressed the up button.

"Marie," Joon-ho asked as I tapped the floor number in. "Do you think my haircut is weird?"

"No...?" I said, turning to a nervous looking Joon-ho. "Why?"

"Well, Yeong-mi told me she saw a lot of guys with longer hair than mine." Joon-ho muttered, playing with his hands nervously. "I'm worried that we'll be found out."

"Nah, you won't." I said, pulling out my phone. "You look like a certain actor… See? His name is Wu Yifan." I showed him a picture of Yifan, and Joon-ho's face relaxed into a smile.

We walked out of the elevator when it reached the ninth floor, into light colored hallways with brown carpet on the floor. The three others clung to my arms at the sight of other residents, even though they were mostly families and children, and I trudged on despite the weight of my companions. I located our room after some searching, and slid they keycard into a slot on the door, which beeped in response, and pulled the door open.

The room was cream colored, like most of the hotel's walls were. The flooring was of a reddish and vaguely slippery wood, and a light colored rug with a flowery design was placed in the middle of the room. Two twin beds, covered in white covers and mustard colored pillows, sat in the middle of the room. A large leather sofa was at the side of the bed towards the right, with a small table and a vase of flowers to it's left. A flat screen TV sat in the front of the room, and towards the right, a large window showed the sights of the Beijing skyline, mostly blocked by a large skyscraper. Immediately, Seon-hyang dashed towards the window, and looked down at the streets with an amazed expression on her face. Joon-ho walked over to one of the the beds and slammed down on it, exhausted. Yeong-mi just walked over and sat down onto the sofa, lounging with a hand over her eyes. I walked over to one of the free beds, and pulled out a bottle of shampoo from the mess of my bag, and walked over to the bathroom.

I showered for a good hour, trying to get my hair looking decent and removing any of the grime and dirt from North Korea off of my skin. I guess if I was a little bit sentimental, I'd say it was like 'washing a part of my life from my body', but I just wanted to stop feeling like utter garbage from laying the dirt of a deep forest. When I stepped out of the shower, I basked in the feeling of being clean, wiping the foggy mirror until I was visible. Using a brush that was provided by the hotel, I managed to get my hair looking less like a bird's nest. I slipped back into my clothes, blow dried my hair until it was no longer wet, and walked back out into the main room.

All three defectors were sitting on the bed Joon-ho was originally laying on, looking at what appeared to be the TV remote and having a silent discussion. Joon-ho had let Ggwek-Ggwek out, who was busying himself playing with the towel dog the cleaning lady made. The TV was on, blaring the hotel's advertisements in Chinese, so they knew how to turn it on. As I walked over, Joon-ho looked up at me, and got up.

"I don't know how to change channels." Joon-ho said plainly, handing me the remote. I showed him which button to press, and I went to the menu, flipping through the hundreds of channels. Most of it was variety or cheesy dramas, and I continued to flip through it until I spotted a very familiar TV show…

"Oh hey, it's your lucky day." I said to Joon-ho, who smiled eagerly in anticipation "There's a Friends marathon on."

"Wait, really?!" Joon-ho said, grinning from ear to ear. I flipped to the channel, and I heard that familiar theme song start up. Joon-ho ran over to the bed, jittery with excitement and the joy of being able to watch an American TV show without being shot. "Oh my god!"

Thankfully, the channel was an English language channel, so Friends wasn't dubbed, which probably would have ruined the show for me. Unfortunately that meant there were no subtitles at all, so I had to act as a living translator, which ended up being me teaching the three about English innuendos from the 90s. Joon-ho was watching Friends with a concentration surpassed by no mere mortal, watching with a very serious face when there were no jokes. Seon-hyang seemed to be understanding the concept of the show, or at least trying to, laughing whenever the studio audience laughed. Yeong-mi was listening to my translations more eagerly than actually watching the show.

After around the 5th straight episode, about at the scene where Marcel, Ross' Chimchar, was playing the 'Lion Sleeps Tonight' on the CD player, my phone rang.

I clamored over to my bag as I tried to get the phone to stop playing the Cybersix theme song.

"Hello?" I said, body sprawled wide on the bed.

"Hey sweetheart." My mom answered, and I could vaugely make out the noise of people talking in the background. "Are you in Beijing?"

"Yeah, we are!" I said, standing myself up, and brushing my pants off. "We're at our hotel now."

"Well we're- What's going on in the background?" My mom asked, and I looked back at the TV.

"Oh, there's a Friends marathon on." I said, looking at Joon-ho, who was still watching the TV intently, even without translation. "The three really like it."

"Hm.. Well, anyways, the captain just came on the intercom. We're close to Beijing." My mom said, and I blinked in surprise. "It'll be about thirty minutes until we reach the airport."

"Well, we'll get on our way then!" I said, and all three of them looked up. "Love you, bye."

My mom hung up, and I grabbed my pokeballs and a smaller black purse I brought with me from my backpack, putting my phone inside. Joon-ho got up, and picked up Ggwek-Ggwek, who whined and kicked his chest a little.

"Well, that was my mom." I said, slinging my bag onto my shoulder. "The plane reaches Beijing in thirty minutes, so let's go to the airport to meet them."

With that, we took the elevator down to the main floor. I inquired about the distance to the airport, and was told that it was a ways away. I walked outside into the dusk traffic full of all sorts of people, and hailed another taxi, which Yeong-mi still wasn't used to, and huffed about under her breath when we drove. I merely watched the lights of Beijing from my window, basking in the colours and size of everything, after the last city I was in had power for only a few hours of the day.

When we drove up to Beijing International Airport, I was immediately caught off guard by its size. I'd heard it had been expanded after the 2008 Olympics, but I still felt intimidated by the gigantic curved building, the roofs dipping up and down like white waves. We got off at the entrance of airport, and were hustled along by chauffeurs, who directed me to terminal 3, where most international flights got off, as he said.

When we entered, I was immediately hit with the swarms of people wandering about, talking and making noise so loud it became noise. Seon-hyang tugged on my sleeve, and I gave her my phone and earbuds. The roof curved upwards, and it resembled a piece of cloth made of white with red weaved in, and the grey floor spanned out in front of us, and potted plants and little gardens were everywhere. We wandered around terminal 3, until I spotted a McDonalds, the bright yellow sign and promises of fatty burgers enticing me, and also making me very very hungry.

"Let's get dinner!" I said excitedly, and Joon-ho and Yeong-mi nodded in agreement. Seon-hyang looked up at us in confusion, but walked with us.

I explained the items on the menu when all three of them were listening, Seon-hyang pulling her earbuds out. Yeong-mi got two cheeseburgers, Seon-hyang got a single cheeseburger, Joon-ho got a hamburger, and I got a Big Mac and a large fry. Thankfully, the line wasn't that long (it was 5pm anyways), so we were soon sitting down, enjoying our fried food. Joon-ho wolfed his food down like no one's business, and was soon stealing my fries. Yeong-mi ate her food cautiously, very aware of the country of origin. Seon-hyang ate relatively fast, and seemed to enjoy her food, but gawked at my burger. I took one bite of the gigantic burger, and almost burst into tears. I'd missed my processed and very unhealthy foods out in the wilderness, and the taste was almost too much for me. I managed to choke down my tears down and ate slowly, savoring the taste.

"Marie?" Seon-hyang asked, and I looked up at her from my meal.

"Mmm?" I mumbled, my mouth full of burger.

"What's that?" Seon-hyang pointed at a poster in the window. It was of a cartoon of a brown coloured Bewear called 'Rilakkuma', who was celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations with a children's set of Chicken McNuggets based on the red envelopes given during the celebrations, only at McDonalds! I snorted a little at the ad.

"Oh, it's a cartoon of a bear." I said between bites of burger. "He's telling people to celebrate Lunar New Year, by buying some McDonald's chicken nuggets."

"What's Lunar New Year?" Seon-hyang asked.

"Uh… it's a holiday where people go see family, give each other gifts, eat a lot of food, and watch fireworks!" I tried my best to explain. Seon-hyang just cocked her head in confusion.

"Huh." She said, and put her earbuds back in, and hummed along to the song playing.

I finished up my meal, ate all the fries that Joon-ho didn't steal from me, and then we were off back to the massive terminal. We wandered around, looking for the lobby for the flight arriving from Vancouver. After I walked us around in practical circles, I finally swallowed my pride and asked someone at an information desk for more information, who obliged, pointing us towards the left of the building.

Thus, I found myself, tired because of the walking around and the burger I ate, laid on Seon-hyang's shoulder, who was petting my head fondly. She ran her fingers through my hair, no longer messy just wavy, and I just smiled softly. Joon-ho and Yeong-mi were just sitting there, Joon-ho holding Ggwek-ggwek close to his chest with a fearful expression because of someone's tan Persian walking about, coming dangerously close to our bench. I let Jessica out, who just laid on Seon-hyang's lap, patting my head softly. I felt myself start to fall asleep, and this time I let it happen. I needed the sleep, I'd been running for my life the past 8 days, was it so wrong that I needed a little break. The hotel talked about having a sauna on one of the floors, maybe I'll go when I get back. Clear my pores. Remove some of that built up stress from running for my fucking life. Maybe'll convince Seon-hyang to come with, both of us could have som-

"THE FLIGHT FROM VANCOUVER IS INCOMING" The announcer practically screamed, and I snorted awake, and looked around rapidly. Jessica and Seon-hyang were shocked by my sudden jerk to awareness, with Jessica trying lay me back down with her claws.

"They're here." I whispered, and all three of the got up, and Seon-hyang grabbed a happily squealing Jessica.

I followed the crowd of people to the gates, trying to act as natural as possible. I watched as the plane touched down, passing by the giant windows towards the left. It took 15 minutes of anxiously waiting with fear and anticipation sprouting in my stomach, for the first few people to start showing up. I craned my neck as people started pouring out of the gates, and after another 4 minutes, I managed to spot my very drowsy father, clutching his pillow, and my mother. My father was wearing a white t-shirt with a dark hoodie and blue jeans, tugging along a large suitcase. My mother was wearing a red button up dress shirt, brown military-style jacket, dark pants, and a leather hand bag. Her hair was in a tight ponytail, and she was wearing some eye and lip makeup.

I ran to my parents, the three defectors in pursuit, and I flung myself into my mother's arms, hearing Jessica squeal louder, and my mother mutter to herself. She wrapped her arms around me right, and ran a hand through my hair, whispering comforting things to me. I felt my stomach drop, and I was overcame with my emotions of sadness and fear that I bottled up deep inside me during North Korea, as I tried to lead the defectors and make them believe that I wasn't a scared little girl. My eyes welled up with tears.

I burst into hysteric sobbing, and once more, I cried into my mother's shirt like I would as a child.

* * *

 **notes:**

 **-yifei is named after a chinese actress, liu yifei or crystal liu.**

 **-wu yifan is also an actual person, who used to be a singer in the kpop group exo before he got overworked to the point of near death.**

* * *

 **wow that was long, even for a normal chapter lol**

 **im kinda busy now, with school and stuff. i'd like to have a concrete real reason why my artblock occured like last time, but it just... did. im still doing this, i swear! anyway i tried to develop yeong-mi more in this chapter because she's really gotten the short end of the stick in terms of charactization, and its kinda my fault lol... if you have suggestions or critique... please review?**

 **also i found out that the first chapter got a dramatic reading done of it. its actually kinda funny because it came out in september when my first chapter was the only thing out. the dude basically said i was too descriptive and got really worked up when i first mentioned north korea (which, if you've read this entire fic, you know that it's just a precursor to whats coming). but im glad i read it now because it would have curbed my enthusiasm for writing, and you probably wouldn't see any more chapters. now that i'm 9 chapters in i think its funny and props to that dude i guess.**

 **anyway i hoped you enjoyed it! please fav, follow and review!**

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **n/a**


	11. dawn is coming, what's this coming to?

**authors note**

 **hi folks! sorry for the erratic update schedule! i got some free time today, and i knocked this guy out, so here goes!**

 **as of right now this is my longest chapter at 15k words which is funny, because i thought it was shorter.**

 **anywaysss... the chapter title's from lp's "night like this"**

 **i hope you enjoy, and please fav, follow and review :))**

* * *

After I was done crying my eyes out, I removed myself from my mother's arms in a exhausted daze. Everything felt slow and hazy, and I rubbed at my eyes softly with the heel of my hands. My father pulled me into a deep hug as well, and whacked my back so hard I coughed loudly.

"I'm glad you're safe.." My dad said, holding me to his chest. I rested against him softly, sniffling softly. After a minute, I seperated from my dad's embrace, and watched as Joon-ho walked over to him, a wide grin on his face.

"Hello, sir!" Joon-ho said in English, albeit in a very stilted manner. "It is a honor to meet you. I am Lee Joon-ho!" He held his hand out, and my dad shook it vigorously.

"It's a honor to meet you too!" My dad exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. Joon-ho laughed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Thank you for saving my daughter, back there."

"You're welcome, sir." Joon-ho beamed back out of pride, practically vibrating with excitement.

I watched as Jessica toddled past me, until she stopped in front of my father. I glanced over at Seon-hyang, to see her maneuvering past groups of people trying to get to her with a worried expression.

"Jessica!" My dad exclaimed, and Jessica squealed loudly before babbling excitedly. "How are you?" Jessica grinned, and continued to babble loudly. My dad pretended to have a conversation with her, like he had done since I was small, and I looked awkwardly around the room for anyone staring at us.

Seon-hyang reached us, before freezing in front of my parents. She looked at them with a terrified expression, before slowly receding behind me, hands clutching my arm so hard they almost hurt. I reached over and rubbed her fingers lightly

"Oh, is this one of the girls?" My dad said, the smile still on his face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Yeong-mi bowing in front of my mother, smiling softly.

"Yeah." I said, turning to Seon-hyang, who just cowered further down. "She takes a while to warm up to." Jessica grinned and walked over to Seon-hyang, and tugged at her pants. The defector scooped Jessica up in her arms, who giggled loudly. My father gaped in surprise, before my mother walked over to us, with Yeong-mi tagging behind.

"Alright, now that we're all acquainted…" My mom said, looking over all of us. Seon-hyang peeked her head out shyly. "We're going to gather our luggage and head back to the hotel."

The four of us young adults followed my parents to the luggage claim, the massive conveyor belt hypnotizing the two former musicians. While my parents fetched a large dark green suitcase and a black duffle bag, Joon-ho helping them hold some of the bags, Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi sat in front of the rotating oval, watching other people's bags go by. I stood over them, looking around to see people staring at us with befuddled expressions. I smiled nervously, and waved, trying to distract the people staring. After I watched Jessica attempt to climb onto the rotating belt by reaching her paws over, I decided that the two should stand up, and I gently tapped their shoulders with my finger. The two got up, and we headed towards the exit, my dad cradling Ggwek-ggwek in his arms, who was fast asleep.

"So…" My dad said quietly, as we walked through crowds of tourists and families. "How was Pyongyang?"

"Eh." I gestured the best I could with Seon-hyang's hand on my arm, and Joon-ho snorted loudly. "It's very grey and very bleak there. Everything was so mechanical and… I don't know, it just skeeved me out. The power went off every night very suddenly, and the food was bad."

"It was military food, though." Joon-ho interjected, and my parents turned to me, looking at us in concern. "Military food is always bad."

"Military food?" My mother asked, her voice in a higher and wavering tone.

"I had a brief stay in a military base." I said somewhat nervously, rubbing the back of my neck. "It wasn't like I was captured though, Joon-ho just hid me in a closet there for a day."

"Oh." My mother said, face relaxing slightly. "So they didn't hurt you." I nodded as we walked out of the windowed doors, into the dark Beijing night, lit up by the buildings and streetlights. The three defectors stared at the multicolored lights surrounding them with awe and wonder etched on their faces. As my dad called a taxi, Yeong-mi and Joon-ho huddled around my mother, a wide smile on Joon-ho's face as he turned in circles, looking around him.

"It's pretty." Seon-hyang sighed, almost if it was to herself. "So pretty." I smiled and looked over at her, which garnered a soft shy smile in return.

We managed to fit all 6 of us into the taxi, my mother in the front seat, and the rest of us squished together and Jessica returned to her pokeball. I could barely breathe, let alone move, and Seon-hyang was crushed to my side, looking very uncomfortable. None of us spoke for the entire ride, just sat there, staring dead ahead as the radio blared a catchy C-Pop song I couldn't identify.

Soon, our taxi dropped us off at the hotel, and my parents headed up to their rooms to drop their bags off. My mother told us, while hauling large bags, to wait for them at the cafe inside the hotel, and we'd talk more there. The cafe in question was a light color, like most of the building was, with dark grey plush chairs. The chairs were placed in front of large granite tables, with plates and the usual finery on them, but with blue vases. I found a table that could seat all of us without having to steal some chairs, and I sat down. I ended up ordering a coffee drink with a scoop of ice cream in it, and Seon-hyang ordered chocolate ice cream.

Seon-hyang's ice cream had just arrived, when my parents arrived, taking the seats beside me. Seon-hyang was too busy shoveling her ice cream down her gullet to really care or cower away, and the Lees smiled and waved at them.

"Is the food good here?" My mom asked, glancing at the men with an odd expression.

"Currently, I'm not the best judge of that." I joked, a crooked grin on my face. "Anything tastes fantastic to me right now." My dad snorted softly, looking intently at the menu.

My parents ordered their dinner, chilled noodles for my mom and pork dumplings for my dad. Seon-hyang had stopped eating, and was holding her head and wincing in pain. I quickly realized what had happened.

"Seon-hyang." I said, getting her attention. She looked up at me, pain still etched on her features. I pushed my thumb up against the roof of my mouth, and Seon-hyang mimicked me. I watched the pain sap from her face, and she thanked me almost silently.

"I'm guessing that that was a certain someone's first ice cream headache?" My dad joked, nudging my ribs lightly. I laughed softly and nodded, and Seon-hyang stared at us with a confused expression, before shrugging and continuing with her ice cream..

"Joon-ho." My dad said, and Joon-ho jolted to attention with a surprised expression, and a squirming Ggwek-ggwek in his arms. "Did you catch that Magby yourself?"

"Yessir." Joon-ho smiled, and my dad made a small noise in amazement. "Marie helped."

"I provided the pokeball." I added with a smile, and my dad looked at me with pride in his eyes. "He did most of the work, though!"

"I remember when I taught this little girl to catch pokemon…" My dad grinned, rubbing my head affectionately, and I giggled loudly. "Now she's teaching other people to catch pokemon!"

"Speaking of pokemon…" My mother said, and I turned to face her. "How are yours doing?"

"Varaha evolved, Nina is doing alright, Jessica is Jessica." I said, holding my head up with my hand. "I caught a Pangoro in Shenyang, but she doesn't trust me yet." Their dinner arrived soon after I finished talking, and we fell into another silence, as I finished my drink and looked out into the bright lights of the city.

"Well, Marie." My dad said, finishing up his dumplings, and grabbing a messenger bag he brought down with him. "If you've eaten already, I'm going to head outside and feed my pokemon. Care to join me?"

"Yeah!" I smiled, grabbing my purse and standing up abruptly. Joon-ho quickly followed me, an excited grin on his face.

"We'll be right back!" My dad shouted as we walked away from the lounge. My mother waved in response.

My dad led us through the streets of Beijing, and we darted into a large and mostly vacant park, lit up only by the occasional grey street lamp. My father stopped in his tracks by a large pond, and shuffled through his pockets, grabbing 6 pokeballs, gleaming in the street light. He released them one by one.

Herman came first, wagging his dark shaggy tail and whining loudly. His Emboar came next, snorting loudly and shaking his head, trying not to fling flames everywhere. Meyli, my father's sylveon jumped out of her ball and onto the grass, idly scratching her head with her ribbons once she landed. Her expression brightened when she saw me, and she dashed over to me, embracing me with her ribbons as I bent down. My dad then released Alexandre, his kingdra, into the pond with a splash. Alexandre was only a mere inch shorter than me, and he simply looked at my dad in anticipation. Next out was Amelia, his froslass, who floated towards Joon-ho with curious eyes, who was slowly backing away with a shocked expression. Finally, his heliolisk, Skitter jumped out, and ran wide circles around my dad excitedly.

"Alllright!" My dad shouted, clapping his hands together. All of his pokemon looked up at him as he grabbed some pokepuffs from his bag, a French treat that reached Canada when it was settled. He handed them out to each of them, and after he fed all of them, he looked up at me expectantly. I took a deep breath in, and dug in my bag for my pokeballs.

I let out Nina, Jessica, and Varaha first, and bent down to feed them individually. Varaha made an instant bee-line for his father with a grin on his face, and showed off in front of him. Emboar snorted approvingly, and laid a hand on Varaha's head. I took a deep breath in, and with shaky hands, I let Yifei out of her pokeball. Yifei stood silently after I released her, just looking at me with narrowed eyes.

"H-Hey Yifei…!" I stuttered, grabbing a pokepuff from my dad's bag and holding it out in front of me. "Got ya some… food?" Yifei only scowled at me, but grudgingly lifted her arm up and plucked the pokepuff from my open palm. She picked it up gingerly, like it was swarming with insects, and sniffed at it. She plopped it into her mouth, but didn't change her expression, just stared angrily at me. Eventually after several minutes of awkward silence, I just ended up retrieving her and the rest of my pokemon. My dad followed suit, and we headed back to the hotel in silence.

We walked over to the lounge to find Yeong-mi and my mom chatting in gestures and elementary level Korean learned at her job as a aerobics teacher in Koreatown, both grinning and laughing. Seon-hyang looked very out of place, looking at the two sadly. She perked up when she saw me walk in, and I sat down in front of her.

"The Pangoro didn't hurt you?" Seon-hyang said softly, and I nodded. Seon-hyang sighed in relief and wiped her face.

After a few more minutes of chatting about mostly inane stuff, like the weather back home (sunny and actually warm for once!) or how people were doing at home. Eventually, my parents decided to try and sleep off their jet lag, and the four of us ended up walking upstairs to our room with nothing else to really do. After an intense round of rock-paper-scissors, Yeong-mi and Joon-ho got the beds for tonight, and Seon-hyang and I were relegated to the couch.

An hour passed us by, and Seon-hyang and I were the only ones still awake, lying on the couch, which proved uncomfortable for two adults to lie on. Seon-hyang's front was pressed against my back, which my brain _loved_ to remind me about every 12 seconds with a sudden rush of blood to my face. From what I could see, the Lees were dead asleep, Joon-ho was lying on his back, and Yeong-mi was on her side, arms covering her face. I'd changed the TV from the Friends marathon to an American news agency to distract me from my hormones, which was discussing the North Korean crisis I had accidentally caused.

While all four of us were in Shenyang, South Korean officials raided several clubs and brothels in the Itaewon district of Seoul, where US military and expats hung out the most. As expected, the officials found no traces of any trafficked North Korean musicians in the south, and closed their investigation and accused Pyongyang of lying about the girl's 'kidnapping'. The acting South Korean president released a statement accusing Pyongyang of making the whole thing up to ruin South Korean-US relations. Basically, it was a huge mess, and I felt disgusting for creating it. I groaned and rubbed my face hard, trying to ignore the growing nausea forming in the pit of my stomach.

"Marie?" Seon-hyang whispered, grasping one of my hands when I removed them from my face. "What's wrong?" I turned to face her concerned expression, and I swallowed my bile down.

"I've created a huge mess…" I muttered, looking down at her bare feet in attempt to not feel worse and burst into tears again. "I-I just… I just wanted to go home, and now I've created a diplomatic nightmare… It's all my fault." Seon-hyang pulled me into her arms, and I found myself weakly and silently crying.

"It's not your fault." Seon-hyang said softly, gently petting my hair. I buried my face into her shoulder and tried to stop myself from crying. "Everything will turn out alright, ok? In a few months they'll be talking about how wonderful you are, and how wrong they were before."

I said nothing, just laying in her arms weakly as she cooed to me softly. I probably should've separated from her to minimize future awkwardness, but her embrace was just so warm and comforting that I stayed in her arms as I breathed softly in and out. Seon-hyang rubbed my upper back softly, tracing her finger up and down my spine, and I shivered even though there was a t-shirt covering my back. The lights from the TV and from outdoors shone on her skin, dashes of oranges and yellows highlighting her face and skin in such a pretty way that I couldn't look away. I was enraptured by her beauty until I heard music coming from the TV, and I looked over at it.

They were playing a clip of Moranbong, with their white military uniforms and instruments against a screen displaying a video of Kim Jong-un waving and directing Party officials by his side. All of them either had plastered on smiles that didn't reach their eyes, or serious expressions. I'd seen this scene before, but this time I noticed something I had overlooked before. All of the girls had the same short haircut that never went past their chin, the same general height, the same white uniform with no quirks to make them different, and the same thin body type. They were all supposed to be the same, nothing individual or different about them. I felt sick at the sight, and clung to Seon-hyang tighter, like a koala. At least here, she was an individual and not a singing, dancing State manufactured drone, ultimately replaceable when her use for the Party was over.

"Oh, Marie…" Seon-hyang sighed softly, running her hands through my hair, before moving down towards my arm, the sleeve rolled up, stroking it around my bandages. Bizarrely, this felt very intimate, almost if this was going to escalate further. I felt blood flush to my face (and elsewhere) as she moved to my fingers, petting them all individually. I grasped her hand gently but firmly before she could continue to get me worked up. I stared into her eyes, as she stared at me in awe, eyes wide mouth slightly agape, almost as if something important was happening on my face. We stayed like that for minutes, almost feeling like hours, just staring at each other in silence. The tension amongst us seemed almost physical, almost tangible enough that I could feel it, and it was moving us closer together. Closer. Closer. Clo-

"It feels weird." Seon-hyang whispered lowly, almost to herself, and I snapped out of my head to look at her. I only heard her because there was barely a gap between us, noses almost touching.

"What feels weird?" I responded softly, aware of Seon-hyang's knitted eyebrows.

"In books I read…" Seon-hyang said, rubbing my thumb absent-mindedly and stirring up my boiling hot insides again. "When people leave North Korea, they always miss the Marshal. They yearn for him, and eventually come back. But… I don't miss him."

"You don't?" I breathed softly.

"No." Seon-hyang said softly, looking confused, eyebrows furrowed and frowning. "I… don't."

"Do you feel bad about it?" I asked, feeling my face contort in concern.

"...I don't." Seon-hyang breathed, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I don't."

"That's okay." I said softly, trying to sound comforting. Seon-hyang didn't respond, just moved so she was in my arms, and I held her tight. Her body was pressed up against mine again, and I tried to concentrate on the ceiling than on how she felt against me, and the fact that she was still wearing _my_ clothes, which was working me up more than actually having her close to me. She didn't cry, just held me until I felt her breathing soften as she fell asleep. After another minute or two, I followed her into unconsciousness.

That night I dreamed that Seon-hyang and I were dancing together at a large and dark club somewhere in Canada blasting loud music, only light up by occasional flashes of purple lights from the ceiling. The woman was wearing a strapless red dress with a golden bracelet on her wrist and red stiletto heels. Her hair was longer than usual, now reaching straight to her lower neck, but with the same side-swept bangs. Seon-hyang had wrapped her arms around me, and was pushed close to me by the other people in the club dancing around us, their faces dark and undecipherable. Seon-hyang grinned at me, and said something to me drowned out by the music.

"What?" I shouted over the music, hopefully being heard. My head felt like it was swimming, the loud music ringing in my ears painfully. Seon-hyang just laughed to herself, a soft gentle laugh, and said something else drowned out by the music, still smiling. As she talked, she tucked her hair behind her ear with one of her fingers.

I was about to ask her to speak up, but I felt myself flush a painful red as her smile became almost predatory, hooded dark eyes fixed on my lips. She drew me closer with her arms, and I leaned close to her and…

My eyes snapped open, only to be instantly blinded by the sun coming through the window. I squealed softly, covering my eyes from the burning ball in the sky. Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms crush me close to someone, and I looked to see a sleeping Seon-hyang, still holding me close to her chest. I managed to slither out of her arms without waking her up, and I entered the bathroom slowly, trying to avoid any creaking noises.

I took a hot shower for what felt like an hour, trying to avoid thinking about the dream I had last night. However, it seemed to creep back in my mind when I wanted it to leave, and I found myself thinking about how close I was to kissing her. I was conflicted about how I felt about it, if I had kissed her in my dream it would've been awkward to face her in the morning, but I still craved her soft li-

I covered my head with my hands and dug the heels of my hands into my cheeks. I wasn't going to think that about Seon-hyang. She's my friend and we've only gotten along so recently, how would she react if I suddenly came on to her like that? I supressed my thoughts about romancing Seon-hyang, shook my head and turned the water off. I stepped out of the shower, and toweled off.

"I love Beijing Tiananmen..." I sang in Chinese to myself as I brushed my hair and put my dark lacy underwear on. "The sun rises above Tiananmen..."

"Greatest Leader Ma-," I sang as I plugged in the hair dryer. My song was abruptly cut off by the bathroom door slamming open. I turned to the door, and I was faced with Seon-hyang, who flushed bright red and widened her eyes as she saw what I was wearing, which caused me to swallow thickly.

"Ah!" Seon-hyang shouted suddenly after a minute of staring at me, covering her eyes and slamming the door shut. I only stared at the door for a few silent moments, hand hovering over the hair dryer, shock and embarrassment drowning any other emotions. I quickly blow dried my hair, and put on my clothes. Stepping outside of the bathroom, I saw Seon-hyang laying on the bed, still covering her face with her hands. I sat down on the edge of the bed, crossing my legs. Seon-hyang looked up at me, face still a pink colour, and a sad look on her face.

"A-Are you mad?" Seon-hyang asked, putting her hand in the crook of my arm. I blinked at her, looking at her face to see if she was genuinely upset. Her eyebrows were tilted upwards, and her eyes were wet without crying.

"I'm not mad." I said softly, trying my best to not belittle her. Seon-hyang had grown up in a different culture and situation than me growing up. "It was just an accident, not anything serious." Seon-hyang smiled weakly, kneading my arm softly.

My attention was turned to the TV, which was both still on and still playing the news. Instead of torturing me further with reminders of my mistakes in North Korea, a small clip of a pokemon battle was playing. The shot was of a stadium with a dirt battling field, two male trainers about 15 or 16 years old, facing off. The trainer on the right, a light skinned blonde boy with a dark hoodie and gym shorts had a eelektross, the large eel-like pokemon slithering anxiously. On the other side, a tan and dark haired boy with a crustle standing in front of him. I watched as the two pokemon clashed, crustle with rocks and eelektross with a biting attack, but both seemed to reach a stalemate with neither backing down. Then, the trainer of the eelektross did a strange dance, swinging his arms around and settling on a bizarre pose, before eelektross let out a gigantic electric attack that forced the crustle down. I squinted at the TV in confusion, before sighing and shrugging my shoulders.

"Seems too flashy for me…" I muttered to myself, scratching my head. Seon-hyang just continued to look at the TV, mouth hanging agape.

"What… was that?" Seon-hyang asked, turning to me.

"Oh, I'm not sure, actually!" I laughed, scratching my nose embarrassedly. "I think it's a dance that channels a pokemon's power, or love for its partner, or whatever."

"Oh…" Seon-hyang said in amazement. "Cool…" Her eyes were almost sparkling, as if she saw something incredible, and I turned to her and grinned.

"What would you think if I did something similar?" I joked, and Seon-hyang stopped and then burst out into a peal of giggling, crossing her arms over her chest. I stood up on wobbly legs, and tried my best to imitate the dancing that the boy was doing, to Seon-hyang's laughter. As I danced, Yeong-mi propped herself up on her bed and squinted at us, cocking her head. Her short hair was flung across her cheeks and ears, and the t-shirt she was wearing was ruffled.

"What are you… doing?" Yeong-mi rasped, rubbing at her eyes. I immediately stopped dancing and sat back down on the couch, flushing bright red.

"Marie was dancing, Yeong-mi!" Seon-hyang exclaimed, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks.

"...Could you really call those _movements_ dancing?" Yeong-mi deadpanned, and I held my hand to my heart, mock offended. Yeong-mi merely stood up, stretching her arms up to the sky, and walking over to the bathroom. A few moments after I watched the door close, the shower audibly turned on.

I curled up on the couch, lazily watching the TV flip through the news. Seon-hyang cuddled up next to me, resting her head on my chest. We laid there, waiting for Joon-ho to wake up and Yeong-mi to stop showering. As I lounged around, I heard my phone ring distantly, and I scrambled for my phone, clicking the answer button.

"Hello?" I answered, and Seon-hyang looked up at me in confusion.

"Heyooo!" Addy shouted, and I grimaced at his volume. "How's my favorite trainer?"

"It's like… 6 in the morning and you're already screaming!" I exclaimed, trying to be quiet. "Quiet down!"

"Still grumpy in the mornings, huh?" Addy teased, and I could hear his grin through the speakers. "Anyways, Mr. Moreau wants to know if you're in Beijing yet."

"I am." I grumbled, rubbing my face absentmindedly. Seon-hyang's round eyes were gazing up at me, framed by her dark, side swept bangs. "Arrived here yesterday afternoon. My parent's are here with me, so he shouldn't worry."

There was a pause in our conversation, in which I vaguely heard Addy talking to Mr. Moreau. I nervously twirled my hair in the meantime, wondering if Mr. Moreau was going to chew me out for not calling the island exactly when my boat went off course. You were supposed to tell them as soon as possible so they could pull you in and right your course while they were still nearby. But, of course, I passed out as soon as my head hit my pillow, and ended up in North Korea. Figures.

"Well, Mr. Moreau says that we'll arrive tomorrow evening at the latest." Addy said after a few minutes, and I felt relief wash over me. "He said that a snowstorm of some kind suddenly came when boats were getting deployed, and a lot of kids ended up north of the expected landing site, so he isn't surprised you landed in China."

"Oh." I said, trying to withhold any shock or amazement. "That's odd."

"Yeah, he said it was both really bad and really long. Lasted about 5-6 hours." Addy continued. "Luckily, I ended up in a coastal town a bus drive away from Seoul! I ended up walking though, to prepare myself for my journey."

"That's neat." I said through gritted teeth, trying to not sound bitter at his better sounding adventure. Walking through the South, where you would probably have more trainers to talk to, was much better than running for the Chinese border in the North.

"And you?" Addy asked, and my blood froze. "What'd you do until you hit Beijing?"

"Uh.. I woke up in the middle of some beach." I said, somewhat nervously. "Wandered around, met people, battled pokemon until I reached Shenyang, and then I took a train."

"...Is that how you met the girl you told me about?" Addy teased, and I rolled my eyes and groaned, getting Seon-hyang's attention. "Bet you seduced her through that homeless, 'looking for a spiritual journey' charm, Marie…"

"Oh shut up…!" I said in mock annoyance, and Addy just laughed.

"I can see it now... " Addy smiled, and Seon-hyang was now looking very concerned at my somewhat annoyed expression. "Messy unkempt Marie, who has been sleeping in the woods for 3 days, and a beautiful fisherman's daughter with a heart of gold! The novels write themselves…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I snorted. "I'll just tell her you're a hopeless fool when you get here."

"Oh, how you wound me…" Addy exclaimed in mock offense, before he paused, listening to a distant voice.

"Anyway, that was Mr. Moreau." He said, mild irritation in his voice. "We have to go down to get breakfast, so I'm gonna go… Don't do anything I wouldn't do, young lady!"

Before I could make a witty remark in response, Addy hung up the phone.

"Marie?" Seon-hyang asked, still looking up at me in concern. "Who was that? Were they being mean to you?"

"Oh, that was just a friend!" I grinned, and Seon-hyang's expression softened into something gentle. "He was just teasing me, that's all."

"Huh." Seon-hyang said softly, and I watched her lips move, still in a pout. "I-I thought you were upset or something…"

"I'm not, so don't worry!" I smiled, brushing Seon-hyang's bangs to the side, which caused her to emit a small hum and a small smile.

"It does feel nice, though." I mumbled, almost unheard. Seon-hyang looked at me with round, interested, almost cat-like eyes, so I knew she heard.

"What feels nice?" She asked, moving closer to me. I felt her breast press against my chest, and a spike of heat came over me. Keep yourself under control… Keep yourself under control...

"You looking out for me!" I exclaimed, trying to make the shake in my voice less obvious. "It's nice to know that you care about me, so…. Thanks!" Seon-hyang flushed a deep pink, and rubbed her cheeks lightly.

Yeong-mi walked out of the bathroom a few moments after that, hair dried and looking cleaner and much less scruffy than she was in the forest. I watched her stretch her arms above her and grunt a little, before walking to Joon-ho's bed, and lightly shoving him.

"Get up, lazy!" Yeong-mi shouted, and Joon-ho groaned loudly, before shoving his pillow over his head. Yeong-mi just proceeded to shove him again.

"We don't patrol today until 11 am, Kwang-min…" He mumbled, grabbing Yeong-mi's forearm and moving it away. "Go back to… sleep."

"You're not in the barracks anymore!" Yeong-mi exclaimed, and tore the blankets off of his bed, and Joon-ho curled up in a ball, trying to maintain warmth. "It's time to eat! Get up!"

Joon-ho sat up slowly, swaying woozily and blinking his eyes, and I watched as he rubbed his face rather violently. He swung his legs forward and stood up shakily, still trying to clear the sleep from his eyes. I grinned at him, and I got a tired smile back, as he headed towards the front door. The rest of us followed him outside, with me lagging behind to lock the door.

"Marie?" Joon-ho said to me, as we entered the elevator, and I turned to him. "What do you think they'll have for breakfast?"

"Hum…" I muttered, holding my chin in the palm of my hand. "Probably American or Chinese food… I'm not sure."

"American food!?" Seon-hyang exclaimed, looking shocked and morally outraged. "The imperialists have taken over China too?"

"Not really." I explained. "This hotel is owned by a Canadian company, but a lot of Americans stay here, so naturally they'd have American food. And the restaurant we ate at last night was American too."

Seon-hyang had an expression of absolute mortification, and was about to say something to me before the elevator dinged, and the doors opened to the hotel lobby. As we headed over to the lounge, I could vaguely see my parents sitting down at a large table, my mother eating and my dad reading a large newspaper.

"G'mornin." I said with a small smile as I sat down at the table. My parents looked up at us, and gave bright smiles in return.

"Did you sleep well?" My mother asked with a smile, and I noticed large department store bags by her side.

"Mhm!" I said, looking over the breakfast menu. There seemed to be only typical Western dishes, like buttermilk and savory pancakes, Belgian waffles, and some sort of omelette. I explained the options to the three, and the three ordered, buttermilk pancakes for Seon-hyang, an omelette for Joon-ho and Yeong-mi, and I decided on pancakes as well, but with coffee.

"I'm guessing you three didn't have anything like this in the North." My dad smiled, and both me and Joon-ho nodded vigorously.

"Assorted vegetables or soup." I said, a sarcastic smile on my face. "For five days straight." My dad grimaced at the thought.

"Jesus…" My dad muttered, and I watched as my coffee arrived in a grey mug, with a white tray with little white bowls of cream and sugar. I decided to go for a double-double, and stirred my coffee with my spoon. Seon-hyang reached over to pick up coffee and took a cautionary sip from my mug. I giggled as she reeled back and slammed the mug down, her face contorted in disgust.

"Ugh!" Seon-hyang cried out, crossing her arms and glaring at me. "That's the bad tasting American drink Mi-kyong gave me back in Pyongyang! Why are you drinking it?"

"Oh, I like it!" I smiled, and Seon-hyang just gave me a look in response. "It wakes me up."

"You're lying." Seon-hyang grumbled, continuing to glare at me. I picked up the mug and took a long swig of the drink, garnering a shocked expression from Seon-hyang. I sighed after putting my drink down, and looked over to Seon-hyang with a grin.

"That drink tastes like raw pig's blood." Seon-hyang scoffed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Had a little squabble there, huh?" My dad laughed, and I nodded. "What was it about?"

"Seon-hyang over here doesn't like coffee too much." I explained, pointing to a hunched and pouting Seon-hyang. "She took a sip and thought I was lying when I said I liked it. Apparently she had some before in Pyongyang, so maybe someone's importing coffee from somewhere…?"

"I guess the North Korean branch of Starbucks isn't doing so well, hm?" My dad joked, and I laughed loudly, causing Seon-hyang to look gloomily over at us. Mom noticed this, and poured her a cup of tea from the pot on the table, and put it on the table. Seon-hyang peered over at it suspiciously.

"It's Chinese tea!" My mother smiled in light Korean. "Not coffee." Seon-hyang took a sip, and smiled warmly, hugging her arms to her chest. She bowed and thanked my mother, before taking a drink and dramatically sighing in pleasure. I rolled my eyes and snorted out a laugh, which cause Seon-hyang to furrow her brows.

"So, there are coffee shops in Pyongyang?" I asked Seon-hyang as she drank her tea. Seon-hyang nodded slowly.

"I don't get the big deal." Seon-hyang frowned. "One of our bandmates, Mi-kyong, used to go religiously to drink at a cafe near the barracks. Every morning, for a drink that tasted like garbage…"

"Eh…" I shrugged, and Seon-hyang gave me a look. "They have variations with more sugar and even chocolate added, so some people have that instead."

"I don't think even chocolate could improve it…" Seon-hyang grumbled, before taking another sip of her tea.

Our food arrived with a clatter of plates, the Lee's bright yellow omelettes and Seon-hyang and me's pancakes, which were fluffy and a delicious looking caramel color. I dug in with a fervor only matched by my 5 year old self, drizzling the provided syrup all over. However Seon-hyang was a little more cautious, looking up at my mother every so often for some sort of confirmation that what she was eating was truly intended to be food. When she actually ate the pancakes, after staring wide eyed at the fork by the plate for a few minutes, she seemed to enjoy it, nodding softly to herself.

"Pretty good for American food, huh?" I said to Seon-hyang, who reluctantly nodded. "See, not everything American is horrible!"

"I… Guess…" She muttered, a deep part of her unwilling to consider anything American of value. I suddenly became aware of how uncomfortable she felt, face and body stiff, so I guiltily returned back to my pancakes, and finished them quickly.

"Do you even get to taste your food, Marie?" Joon-ho asked with a grin, still savoring his omelette, barely finished half of it. I managed a weak grin in response, but said nothing.

We finished up our food quietly, and after our dishes were retrieved from our tables by the waiter, my mother handed me a bag.

"While you four were getting ready, we got you all some new clothes!" My mother smiled, and I quickly translated what she said for Yeong-mi and Seon-hyang, both of whom thanked my mother with a smile and slight bow.

"Mr. Moreau called to tell me that they'll be in by tomorrow evening, so we'll have a free day today." I said. "So, what are we going to do?"

"Well, me and your mother are going to go to the Forbidden City today…" My dad said, holding his chin on his hand. "You're all welcome to join us!"

"Sure!" Joon-ho exclaimed, excitement in his eyes. He turned to Yeong-mi, and translated what my dad said in Korean.

"Sounds good to me." Yeong-mi nodded, and my dad smiled.

"My parents want to know if you want to come to the Forbidden City with them." I asked Seon-hyang, who was hunched forward and crossing her arms, looking away from me. "It's a-"

"I'll go." Seon-hyang snapped, and I flinched back. My mother looked at us in concern, and my dad's expression faltered. My mother opened her mouth to say something, but I just stood up.

"I think we better go up and change." I said nervously, and the three others stood up. "We'll meet you in the lobby…?" My parents nodded, and we headed towards the elevators.

The ride up was silent and uncomfortable. Seon-hyang refused to talk or even acknowledge me, only staring forward with a serious expression her face that harkened back to North Korea. I felt disgusting, a slimy feeling deep under my skin. I blew it, I messed up so bad that she hates me again. I cursed my past self for not seeing how uncomfortable she was and continuing to crack jokes. Now I was back to square one, just being mere traveling partners. How pitiful of me...

We walked back into our room, and I sat on Joon-ho's bed and looked through the bag. I made my best guesses at which clothes belonged to which person, and doled them out. Joon-ho retreated to the bathroom to maintain some decency while he changed, and Yeong-mi decided to change right there, probably used to changing in front of other girls. Seon-hyang just sat there, ignoring the clothes I had set out for her, preferring to stare at the wall in front of her with a glare. Averting my eyes from the semi-nude Yeong-mi, I found myself looking sadly at Seon-hyang, who was either ignoring me or not noticing me. I looked over at Yeong-mi after she had finished changed, as she spun around to show off her new outfit. She had changed from a skirt into black skinny jeans that fit her well, and was wearing a black-and-white striped turtleneck, with slightly baggy sleeves up to her wrists.

"You look nice." I smiled, and Yeong-mi grinned in response. "Chic."

"Thank you!" Yeong-mi giggled. After another two minutes, Joon-ho stepped out of the bathroom wearing blue jeans with a white t-shirt with some sort of dark artistic design on it, and a baggy grey sweatshirt. He had a somewhat embarrassed smile on his face as he walked towards us.

"You look very fashionable!" I said, and Joon-ho laughed a little to himself.

"Thanks…" He muttered, as Yeong-mi walked over to him, hands on her hips. "I guess we're going down to the lobby now, to meet with your parents… Try not to fight, ok?"

I watched as the Lees left the room, leaving me and Seon-hyang alone to our own devices. Seon-hyang silently stood up, and walked to the bathroom, clothes in hand, slamming the door. Now alone, I silently changed from my practically threadbare clothes into my new outfit, a white dress shirt, with a sky blue cardigan and dark blue skinny jeans. After I changed, I sat there awkwardly, pondering my current options. I could ignore all this and hope for the best, or I could suck up my fears and actually try to make right with her. If I tried the latter, I could mess up further and blow my chances again. But with the former, even though I wouldn't anger her further, I'd be basically tell her that I didn't care about her at all, which was much worse. In the end, I stood up, and walked over to the white bathroom door, and knocked.

"Seon-hyang?" I asked. I stood quietly for a few silent moments, before I got my answer.

"What?" Seon-hyang growled through the door, and I flinched again.

"I really upset you back there, didn't I?" I muttered awkwardly, and leaned against the door.

"Yeah, you did." She snorted, and my heart fell into my stomach.

"I-I…" I stuttered, before I sighed, rubbed my face, and started again. "I'm not… sure how I upset you. Could you possibly… tell me?"

There was another pause, and I put my hand on the door lightly. I wished I confronted her when I could actually see her face, instead of having to wait anxiously

"You made me feel like an idiot in front of your parents!" Seon-hyang spat. "I can't help that I distrust American things, ok!? It's what I was taught to do! You've lived your whole life in this world where everyone trusts America, and I've only lived in it for 3 days!"

There was a pause.

"You're right. I overstepped my boundaries making those jokes." I said solemnly. "I should have thought about what you were going through before I made them. So… I'm sorry."

Another pause. I swallowed thickly.

"Do you forgive me?"

I heard footsteps coming towards the door, and I stepped back and braced myself for a left hook to the jaw. Instead, Seon-hyang flung herself at my chest and wrapped her arms around me, causing me to wobble with her sudden added weight. She was trembling somewhat, so I ran a hand gently through her hair to soothe her.

"I do." Seon-hyang said, muffled by my cardigan. "I do forgive you." I felt my heart soar, and I held her tight in my arms.

"Thank you." I said softly, and Seon-hyang nuzzled into my chest, and I felt a surge of warmth in my ribcage. We stood silently in front of the bathroom, hugging each other for dear life.

"I hate being mad at you." Seon-hyang whimpered, clutching me harder.

"I hate making you mad." I said in response, Seon-hyang separated from my arms, and I could look at her new outfit. She was wearing a rose colored knee-length dress with a peter pan collar, and an opened maroon red cardigan that reached to her mid thighs.

"You look pretty." I smiled. "Like a flower." Seon-hyang blushed and looked away shyly, a shy smile on her lips.

"You look pretty as well." Seon-hyang smiled softly, and held my cardigan in between her thumb and index finger. "Very handsome." I grinned and felt my face burn, and rubbed my cheeks a little.

"We should get going…" Seon-hyang said, looking over at the window, then back to me. I nodded, quickly grabbing my purse and locking the door once we stepped out, before we left the room again, heading towards the elevators.

"Seon-hyang?" I asked once we entered the elevator and the mechanical doors shut. She looked over at me with a look of surprise.

"Hrm?"

"The next time I say something stupid that upsets you…" I mumbled, causing Seon-hyang's expression to morph into concern. "You should tell me, and then I'll stop, okay?"

"Okay." Seon-hyang beamed, and nudged my hand softly, wrapping her pinky around mine. I looked over to see her grinning at me, then reached up to brush the bangs out of my eyes with her free hand. I closed my eyes and wrinkled my nose in response, which caused Seon-hyang to giggle.

We walked out of the elevator and into the lobby holding hands and smiling broadly. I spotted my parents talking with the Lees, who were smiling and laughing at whatever they were saying. Yeong-mi was chattering excitedly about something, a smile on her face and gesturing with her hands. When they heard us approach, all four of them turned to us and were visibly stunned at the two of us holding hands.

"You two seem… happy." My mother said, a shocked expression on her face.

"Yup." I smiled, and Seon-hyang looped her arm around mine and swung her arm happily. "Are we going to head off?" My dad nodded as he stretched, and we followed him towards the exit. I turned to Seon-hyang before we exited, and gestured towards my purse with my free hand. She shook her head, and lead me out of the doors. Seon-hyang flinched at the sudden boom of street noise, but didn't demand my earbuds via a tug of my hand. Instead, she clutched my hand tight and pulled me forward through the crowds of people with an overpowering strength, and I followed cautiously behind, trying not to trip and fall.

My dad and I took a brief pit stop to the park from before to feed our pokemon, but nothing had drastically changed overnight. Jessica was happy to see me, Nina walked over to Ggwek-ggwek and Yeong-mi to protect them from Yifei, who still hated me, and Varaha was still showing off to his dad, who rubbed his head again. The only thing that changed was Meyli instantly ran over to my mother and perched on her shoulder, rubbing her face against her. After 5 minutes, all of us retrieved our pokemon and set off for the Forbidden City.

As I was dragged through the seats of Beijing by a very enthusiastic Seon-hyang, I remembered reading an article about a man who took pictures of his girlfriend dragging him forward like this, but in different locations. People in the comments section were chattering about how romantic it was, and now that I was having it done to me, I could see the appeal of having a girl lead you around places, the sort of intimacy that it was only you that she saw when she looked back at you. However, I started to feel my joint painfully dislocate from my shoulder, and the novelty and romanticness of the action began to wear off fast as we moved further and further along with no end in sight, the pain slowly becoming more sharp.

I was about at my wits end when Seon-hyang turned to the right, and lead me down a flight of stairs covered by a covered roof, heading underground into the subway system. I jogged up to Seon-hyang, alleviating some of the pain from my arm. Seon-hyang glanced over to me, and gave a little smile, and she was so cute that I forgave her for making my arm ache so painfully, and gave her a smile in return. My mother was at the end of the stairs, holding out two tickets for us.

"What happened between you two?" My mother whispered as we walked to the platform, with concern lacing her voice. "At breakfast, I mean."

"Oh, uh…" I said nervously, still kind of embarrassed about my mistakes back there. "I-I made a few jokes at Seon-hyang's expense that I didn't realize were mean… So Seon-hyang got upset with me, and I apologized for it, and now it's all good!"

"So, a little lover's tiff, huh?" My dad joked suddenly, standing by my mom. I felt my face burn bright red, and Seon-hyang looked up at me with her curious brown eyes.

"D-Dad!" I exclaimed, waving my hands wildly in front of me. "It's not like that!"

"Oh come on, Marie." My dad continued, nudging me in the ribs lightly. My mother crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember what I said to Satoshi about that girl he met in France? If you meet someone you love who you're able to talk through your problems with, marry 'em! That's why me and your mother work so well, y'know?" I scowled at my dad, who just grinned back at me.

Satoshi was a family friend, who had traveled with my father in America, and challenged the league instead of him, and thus held the record of being the youngest trainer to challenge the American league, at a mere 13 years old. Unfortunately, Satoshi lost relatively early, and left for France to train there, and to my best knowledge, has stayed there for the past 20 years. I'd only seen him once, when I was a 4 year old at some sort of trainer gathering, and all I remember is being fascinated by his pikachu until it tried to shock me after I yanked on its tail, and then avoiding it altogether by cowering by my mother and crying whenever it came near me.

Trying my best to ignore what my father said, I turned to look at Seon-hyang, who had stepped away from me, releasing my hand in the process. She was transfixed by an advertisement for some kind of drink, featuring a gaggle of handsome men with trendy choppy haircuts running around on a grassy hill and stopping to pose for the camera with the drink, playing on a LCD screen.

"Cool, huh?" I said, and Seon-hyang jumped, and looked at me in surprise.

"What's the point of having these guys dance around?" Seon-hyang asked me, scrunching up her nose in confusion and disgust.

"They want to sell that drink." I said plainly, and Seon-hyang just looked at me, still very confused.

"All that for a drink?" Seon-hyang asked. "Why?"

"Well, it shows that all the cool people drink it!" I smiled. "And that you'd be cool like them if you drank it!" Seon-hyang scowled in disdain.

"Sounds stupid…"

"Well, don't be so judgemental!" I said, crossing my arms. "If Moranbong was a South Korean girl group, you'd be doing the exact same commercials!"

"...Really?" Seon-hyang said, a little bit of wonder in her voice.

"Mhm." I nodded. "This could have been you."

Seon-hyang had a very introspective look on her face, hand on her mouth, before she jumped at the squeal of the breaks and the blue and grey curved train pulling up to the platform with a flash of steam. Seon-hyang grabbed my hand and dragged me into the train car with my parents, my arm aching all the while. I looked over to see my father staring at us with a knowing smile, and I rolled my eyes. Seon-hyang looked over at the commuters standing on the train and grabbed the handle on the roof of the car, and I reluctantly followed. I looked over to the Lees to see them sitting down, and looking at us with incredulous expressions. I just shrugged.

We arrived at our stop about 15 minutes later, during which Seon-hyang stared at the end of the train car with a scrunched up mouth and squinted eyes. We walked out from the station into the bright, freezing blue of Beijing in the winter morning. Surprisingly, the snow that covered Shenyang and Dandong didn't cover the ground here, making the whole city free of snow. Seon-hyang decided not to drag me down the streets this time, preferring just to hold my hand as she peeked over at the storefronts that we passed by. She had a deep curiosity in her eyes, peering over every mannequin, every colorful cartoon design plastered on the walls of a building. She seemed particularly enamoured with one design on the front of a candy shop of a slurpuff shoveling candy in its mouth with an adorable smile, which got a giggle from her.

I tried to imagine how she felt, a girl from a very poor country that was practically shut off from the world, living a life of obedience and reverence to a dictator who probably was partially responsible for her family situation, controlled all of her childhood and most of her grown life, and could turn on her at any given point in time and have her killed. Suddenly, that girl is thrown into the outside world, where everything she knows has either been proven wrong or proven to be completely useless. I was suddenly overcome with a pitiful feeling, that I'd been so foolish trying to make her laugh instead of actually trying to help her adapt to this new and bizarre world.

After another block or so, I saw the red walls of the main entrance gate (later, I found out through a sign towards the front that it was the 'Gate of Divine Might'), with the curved roofs of the palace peeking above the walls, gold plated tips glinting in the sunlight. I heard Seon-hyang gasp at the sight of it, and I felt myself grin a little. Seon-hyang had grown up in a city where the monuments and statues that she could visit were completely whitewashed in dull greys, with only flecks of red or a bronze yellow, used very sparingly. To see all these colors, reds, greens, browns and bright shining golds, must have been shocking to her. She squeezed my hand tightly as we walked over to the entrance, passing by stopped cars and chattering pedestrians. I held her hand close and somewhat tight in an attempt to subtly tell her 'I'm here to help you through this'. She looked over at me with a warm smile, and ran her thumb across the top of my hand.

"Marie, Marie, Marie...!" Seon-hyang whispered as we approached the gate, pointing to the main sign on a white square painted on the wall framed by gold paint. "What's that say?" The sign read "故宮博物院" in gilded characters, or in English, "Palace Museum".

I translated the sign for her, and she nodded and thanked me with a broad smile. As we entered the gate, we were led into a moderately sized line, full of people of all walks of life. Ahead of us was a older white couple, dressed in thick coats and even then, they were still visibly shivering. They turned to face us, the woman with her round face and somewhat tired blue eyes framed by straw like blonde hair, and the man with dark cropped hair and a thin, square face with smiling dark eyes. Seon-hyang suddenly stood straight, eyes wide and looking like a deer caught in the headlights, and I clasped her hand tight and caressed it softly.

The couple mainly talked to my father, and I had a lingering angry feeling that they didn't think that me or my mom could speak a lick of English, who was watching the conversation with a bored, borderline angry expression, with Yeong-mi imitating her expression near perfectly. Seon-hyang was still visibly on edge, her eyes flickering between my father and the couple, and shaking somewhat. I decided my best bet to calm her down, and to soothe the red flames of aggression deep in my heart.

"Seon-hyang, do you see that building up there?" I pointed, and Seon-hyang ripped her attention from the conversation about different kinds of wine to face me with wide eyes. She glanced over at the buildings in front of me, similar to the ones we saw peeking from the gate.

"That's the old imperial emperors palace!" I exclaimed with a slightly nervous smile, and Seon-hyang looked at me with wonder in her eyes. "All together, the building has 9,999 rooms! Isn't that cool?"

"Why not just 10,000?" Seon-hyang asked, nose scrunched up and brow furrowed. "That's odd."

"Well, back when the palace was being built, people believed that the emperor was from heaven." I explained to the best of my knowledge, most of this info came from remembering a book I read a long time ago. "And his father, the king of heaven had a palace in the sky with 10,000 rooms in it. So, the emperor didn't want to outshine his father, so he only built 9,999 rooms in his palace on earth."

"Oh!" Seon-hyang smiled, a sudden look of realization on her face. "That makes sense, I guess. I still don't understand why people would think that the emperor was from heaven, though."

"Well, that was because that was all they knew during that time." I said, trying not to sound like I was mocking her similar past. "It's what they were taught to believe."

"Oh! Like I… was…" Seon-hyang whispered, the smile dropping off of her face with the revelation. She looked absolutely miserable, eyebrows furrowed and tears brimming in her eyes. I scooped my arm around her waist, and held her close to me, causing her to let out a shuddering sigh.

"Everything's so strange Marie…" Seon-hyang whimpered into my shirt. "I-I wasn't prepared to go outside, into a world where the way I lived for the past 21 years is considered to be weird and awful and, and, an-"

"Shhh, shhh, shh." I said softly, running a hand through her hair, garnering a soft sad noise in response. "You were like them, sure, but that was in the past! And you shouldn't be controlled by your past! You're not in North Korea anymore, so you can begin anew here… with me." Seon-hyang looked up from my chest, her cat-like eyes meeting mine.

"With you?" She asked softly, rubbing my shoulders softly.

"Yes." I whispered, and Seon-hyang looked at me with such respect that I nearly turned into a puddle at her feet. In that moment, as we stood close by to each other, mere inches away, there was so much that I wanted to do. I wanted to protect her from everything bad in the world, spoon her and hide her deep in my chest. I wanted to tell her that she was never alone in this world, that she always had me by her side. I wanted to ki-

"Marie." My mother tapped my shoulder, and I practically leapt 4 feet off the ground, looking over at my mother with a hand to my chest. She had a slight smile on her face, due to my reaction. "The line moved up." I looked around to see the Lees and my dad standing towards the tip of the line. Somehow, the two of us stepped away from the line, and had our moment in a shaded area of the palace grounds, but still visible enough that everyone could see us. I flushed violently in shame, and let my mother lead us to the line.

"How is she holding up?" My mother asked me after we returned to our place in the line, gesturing vaguely to Seon-hyang with her thumb. I turned to Seon-hyang and translated what my mother said.

"Tell her that I'm a little unsure, but I'm doing my best." Seon-hyang smiled up at me, rubbing my shoulder.

I translated, and my mother smiled softly.

"Tell her that I'm here to help, if she ever needs it."

Again, I translated, feeling like some sort of middleman.

"Thank you, ma'am." Seon-hyang said in halting Chinese, and my mother beamed in response.

"What a polite young lady you are!" My mother laughed, and Seon-hyang giggled, probably unsure of what she said exactly. "Marie, what's her name?"

"Can't you ask her?" I said, furrowing my brow.

"The Korean phrase escapes me." My mother responded simply.

"Well, her name is Seon-hyang, but we should probably refer to her with a different name in public so nothing goes wrong…" I said, looking thoughtful. "How about… Junghwa?" My mother shrugged in response.

I turned to Seon-hyang and repeated what I said to my mom. Seon-hyang smiled a crooked smile and nodded.

"That means you're going to give a nickname to Yeong-mi as well, right?" My mother asked, and I nodded in response, crossing my arms thoughtfully.

"Alright, then… Soon-kyu for her…" I said, after some deliberation. "I think Joon-ho's okay though, 'cause his family defected already." Again, my mother shrugged, before the line lead us to the ticket booths. My parents insisted on paying for our tickets, telling me that I had experienced enough shit to warrant a little vacation time, passed them around to us, and we headed in.

The Palace Museum was probably the most intricate and stunning building that I had ever been in, by far. If I tilted my head up and gazed at the ceiling, I could see dark tiles with flecks of orange and green paint outlining them in squares. Red wooden beams rose from the floor, and the beams crisscrossing the ceiling had a more intricate design, of red and blues in an organic pattern, with yellow paintings of dragons etched into the beams. Chandeliers hung from ceiling, bright and yellow, with some sort of red fabric hanging down. Looking over, I could see individual rooms with wooden chairs pushed to the side, showing off a large ink painting of a couple of swanna at roost by a verdant pond. Seon-hyang's mouth was slack, and she stood silently, looking around her as people filed in behind us.

My parents and the Lees had ventured to a different room, so it was just the two of us. Seon-hyang shook herself out of her reverie, and made a beeline for a white information sign at the end of the room. It provided information on the use of the hall we were in (primarily for religious ceremonies or weddings), but only in English and Chinese. Still, Seon-hyang stared intently at the English sign with furrowed brows and a pout.

"What are you doing?" I asked, and Seon-hyang looked over at me with curious eyes.

"I'm trying to read the sign." She said, matter of factly.

"It's in English, though." I replied, and Seon-hyang didn't even blink.

"I'm trying to learn English." Seon-hyang replied, crossing her arms. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion at her reply.

"But… you have nothing to compare it to…?" I said in a confused tone, and Seon-hyang's face became thoughtful at the revelation, hand to her mouth and her eyebrows furrowed.

"I didn't think about that." Seon-hyang said, rubbing her mouth absentmindedly. I shrugged in response, giving a little smile, and holding her hand again, clasping our fingers together softly.

I lead her into the next room, filled with dark display cases showcasing pottery collected during the emperor's time. Seon-hyang walked me over to a little brown statuette of a rapidash walking forward, eyes and nostrils carved flawlessly even though the statue was only about the size of my fist. I marveled at it for a while, before turning back to Seon-hyang, who was watching me as I looked at the statue.

"Why do you want to learn English?" I asked, and Seon-hyang looked at me in surprise. I was hoping the response wasn't because she was desperately trying to fit into this new world by shedding all of her individual characteristics, like her language and her customs. That was what she was used to doing back home, becoming nothing but a toy for Kim Jong-un to use for his own gains. I would be fine translating for Seon-hyang if it meant that she wouldn't feel the need to suddenly and violently change.

"I wanna talk to your parents without having to use you as a translator." Seon-hyang said simply, without even blinking. I was shocked by her upfront attitude, but warmed by her response. "Unless your dad happens to know Russian."

"He doesn't." I replied, furrowing my brow. "But… you do?"

"Yeah." Seon-hyang said, smiling somewhat. "I learned Russian in school! I don't think I remember anything other than hello, though."

"I thought you knew Chinese, though?" I said, cocking my head in confusion.

"I only know a little, because I traveled to Beijing two years ago, for a concert." Seon-hyang remembered with a smile, and I felt my eyes widen in shock.

"You did!?" I said, trying not to shout. Seon-hyang nervously nodded, and I laughed loudly, causing her to relax a little. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was only for 2 days, and we had to leave very suddenly, before we could even perform." Seon-hyang continued, scratching her face softly. "They only let us go to an aquarium and that weird egg shaped building, too. You've taken me farther than I went back then."

"Did Yeong-mi go with you?" I asked, and Seon-hyang shook her head.

"No, they sent a spare drummer." Seon-hyang said, playing with her hair. "She said that she had to drum for a different concert."

"Oh, that's… unfortunate." I said with a frown, and Seon-hyang shrugged softly. I had a sinking feeling that the people controlling the band kept in North Korea so she wouldn't run the risk of defecting with her parents.

I swallowed the sick feeling at the bottom of my chest, and let Seon-hyang lead me to another piece of ceramic art, this time a white vase from the Ming dynasty with a floral design in blue. I tried my best to stifle my worries about what would happen next, where the four of us would go and how long we could trick Pyongyang for, and enjoyed myself walking around the museum, observing paintings and sculptures with Seon-hyang. I liked watching her look at the sculptures and paintings, dark eyes lit up with wonder as she gazed at the sculptures of bodhisattvas or ink paintings of eevees lapping up water from a pond. A selfish part of me wanted to keep that wonder to myself, to be the only cause of wonder, nothing else.

Seon-hyang stopped at a small, glossy statue of a grey colored boy with bright pink hair, one hand clutching a gold ring as big as his head, the other a large spear that was much larger than him. He was posed with the spear facing forward, legs looking like he was ready to run, ready to battle.

"Marie, what is this?" Seon-hyang asked, turning to me with a confused expression. I squinted down at the inscription towards the bottom, written in both Chinese and English.

"This is a statue of… Nezha." I read, and Seon-hyang raised her eyebrows and nodded. "He's a deity in Chinese folk religion. The inscription says that he was born mortal, and helped defeat the dragon king Lugia, later gaining immortality."

"Huh." Seon-hyang said, covering her mouth with her hand. "Is that true…?"

"Hmm, I don't know." I said thoughtfully, rubbing my mouth. "People have speculated that the deities spoken about in the past live among us, but no one has actually put out any substantial proof of their existence."

"Really?" Seon-hyang asked, looking at me in surprise. "The Mar- Kim Jong Un said that the legendary beast Suicune came down from Mount Paektu when he was a boy, and spoke to him, telling him he was destined to lead Korea."

"Was there any pictures?" I asked.

"No." Seon-hyang said softly, looking very sad, and I shook my head and patted her on the shoulder.

"But you never know for sure!" I whispered, trying to comfort Seon-hyang, who looked up at me weakly. "My dad said he saw one of the guardian deities of Hawaii when he went there, so maybe Kim Jong-un was right."

"Maybe…" Seon-hyang sighed sadly, and I frowned.

"Did I upset you again?" I asked, and Seon-hyang waved her hands quickly in front of her.

"It's not you, it's just… everything being strange here." Seon-hyang assured me, and I clasped her hand tightly. "You know?"

"I do." I said softly, and Seon-hyang smiled. "How about we head out to the next hall? I think it has artifacts from Imperial China in there. It'll take our mind off all this." Seon-hyang nodded, and we headed out of the room.

After a long cold walk outside from one hall to the other, we entered the emperor's former throne room, a red room with golden accents everywhere. The throne was a gold chair with extravagant organic designs sculpted onto its sides, such as leaves and flowers. The throne was surrounded by a gold screen decorated similarly, and a white sign hung above the throne, dark characters reading "Justice and brightness". The throne was cordoned off by red velvet rope, and Seon-hyang looked mildly upset by this, frowning sadly.

"What's up?" I frowned, and Seon-hyang glanced over at me.

"I was thinking that you could sit on the throne." Seon-hyang pouted, crossing her arms sadly, gazing at the throne. She sighed thoughtfully.

"It's old, like 400 years old." I said. "It'd probably collapse when you sat down on it, too, and we'd be banned from the Forbidden City for life." Seon-hyang laughed, tugging my hand slightly.

"Did that happen to you?" Seon-hyang giggled, and I shook my head.

"It happened to one of my friends." I smiled. "Back in America, there's a museum filled with old furniture and he got tired, so he took a seat and then… Bam! The chair fell apart under him, and now he can never go back."

Seon-hyang burst out into hysterical squeaky laughter, body shaking violently. It took 10 minutes for her to get under control, taking deep breaths before laughing again. If it were anyone else, I'd be a little annoyed at her laughter, probably because it was one of my weaker jokes. However, with Seon-hyang, I was enamoured with the way she laughed, loud but not too loud, her voice almost like a song, that I couldn't get upset. I smiled softly as she managed to stop laughing, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"You're cute when you laugh." I blurted out suddenly, heat on my cheeks, and Seon-hyang turned a bright pink, rubbing at her face and looking away with a thin smile.

"...Thank you." Seon-hyang whispered, and we walked towards the next room, holding hands gently.

It took us another good hour to make our way through all the halls, and back towards the gift shop. Before we left the final hall, Seon-hyang stopped at a massive painting of a white dragon, with blue accents on it's face, back, and tail. It's massive wings were spread wide above it's head, and its mouth was agape in a silent roar.

"What's this?" Seon-hyang asked, turning towards me. I looked over to the sign, and read.

"Lugia, dragon king of the East Sea, containing modern day East China, Yellow, and Bohai Seas. It was believed that Lugia controlled the tides and flow of the oceans, as well as the weather, and was responsible for storms and droughts that affected the ancient Chinese."

"Woah…" Seon-hyang said, staring up at the painting, before turning to me. "I want to meet him."

"Why?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"He controls storms in the Yellow Sea, right?" Seon-hyang smiled, and I nodded. "So he caused the storm that brought you to Pyongyang, and led us to meet each other!"

I nodded again, with a soft smile.

"So, I want to thank him." Seon-hyang grinned. "'Cause he let me meet you."

If I wasn't in a large museum with a bunch of people, some of them families, passing us by, I would've pulled her into my arms and kissed her on the lips, holding her close to my chest and never letting go. However, the thought of people watching or seeing us when we were experiencing such a special moment, able to say anything to us, good or bad, kinda sapped the courage from me, and I just gazed back at her, garnering a hand to my cheek.

"Are you trying to make me cry?" I joked after a pause, wiping away the tears growing in my eyes, and Seon-hyang laughed her beautiful laugh, and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. She grabbed my hand gently, and pulled me forwards, through the door.

The gift shop looked disappointing compared to the halls we just left. It merely resembled a overpriced gift shop with red walls and overstuffed tables, like the ones I'd see in Chinatown. Some of the more interesting things were earbuds designed to look like the emperor's beaded necklace, a little statue of an emperor designed to hold up your phone, and cute little stuffed animals of a yellow dragon (probably to represent the emperor because yellow and dragons were his two symbols) and some sort of blue bird, almost looking like a taillow, in traditional clothing, the dragon in the yellow robes, the bird in dark robes. The tag by the two stuffed animals informed me that their names were "Zhuangzhuang" and "Meimei", respectively. I tried to resist the temptation to buy the two, looking around the store for something different, pacing sort of nervously. In the end, I was only human and a slave to cute things to boot, and I bought Zhuangzhuang for me, and Meimei for Seon-hyang. I walked out of the gift shop feeling tremendously guilty, and pulled out my phone, texting my dad.

marie: are you outside?

dad: Yeah, we're walking around Tiananmen Square. You?

marie: just left the gift shop. will see you soon.

The two of us made our way towards Tiananmen Gate, which was towards the the north of the Forbidden City. It took us about 16 minutes of squeezing through crowds to make it towards Tiananmen Gate, which looked the same as the gate we entered. As we walked through, I turned to look over the front. Above us, was a giant painting of the founder of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong, looking forward. Beside him, were two slogans written across the gate, one reading "Long Live the People's Republic of China", the other reading "Long Live the Great Unity of the World's Peoples".

"That's Mao Zedong." Seon-hyang said in wonder. I nodded with a smile. Seon-hyang then suddenly bowed to the picture, staying in place for what seemed like hours. I watched as people stared at her, some with incredulous expressions, the other turning to friends to laugh. I looked on nervously, before Seon-hyang got up, and walked me forward.

"You know, you didn't have to bow." I said to Seon-hyang, who looked over at me in shock.

"But that's Mao Zedong! He founded this country, so I should at least bow once!" Seon-hyang exclaimed, before lowering her voice and frowning. "Is this one of those things people only do where I lived?"

"Yeah, sort of." I said, somewhat vaguely. Seon-hyang looked visibly upset, and I felt my stomach drop painfully.

"Oh." Seon-hyang said softly, and I rubbed her hand to comfort her.

"Just remember." I whispered to her, causing her to lean towards me. "It's not your fault, alright?"

"Alright." Seon-hyang nodded, and I tightened my hand around hers.

I spotted my parents and Yeong-mi looking at Joon-ho and Ggwek-ggwek chasing a bunch of pidgeys. We jogged over to them, Seon-hyang dragging me behind which caused me to worry about tripping, and waved hello. Joon-ho looked up at us when he heard us, and waved back, scooping up Ggwek-ggwek and walking over.

"So, how was the museum?" My mother asked, and Joon-ho translated the question to Seon-hyang as soon as he walked over to us.

"It was pretty cool! I thought the interiors were pretty." I said, before turning to Seon-hyang expectantly.

"I learned a lot, and everything was beautiful." Seon-hyang beamed. "Thank you for taking us!" She bowed to thank them, before turning to me with a nervous expression on her face.

"You can bow for them." I said, and Seon-hyang exhaled in relief.

"What happened?" Yeong-mi asked, looking at us in concern.

"Well, Seon-hyang bowed to the picture of Mao Zedong on the top of the gate." I said, and Yeong-mi glanced over to it.

"And…?"

"No one bows to the picture anymore, so she got stared at." I explained, and Yeong-mi looked at me. "I was worried people were going to make fun of her, so I told her that people don't really bow to Mao anymore."

"Oh." Yeong-mi said, eyebrows raised, and thankfully, I didn't have to explain further. The Cultural Revolution wasn't exactly the event in history I could have a non-biased discussion about, because my mother's family was affected deeply by the events, and it always made me nervous and very angry when I talked about it.

"I thought you said no one bows to anyone anymore!" Seon-hyang protested, looking very upset, and I froze, suddenly realizing what I said.

"Fuck!" I hissed loudly, covering my face. "I didn't mean to say that, I'm sorry..."

"S'okay..." Seon-hyang shrugged, still visibly upset with me. I pouted, bending down to look at her.

"After lunch, I'll take you to that candy shop we passed by, to make it up to you." I said, and Seon-hyang tried to play coy, but I could still see the little smile on her face.

"...Sure." Seon-hyang smiled, ruffling my hair before I stood up.

My mother led us off of Tiananmen Square into the streets, telling us that she knew of a nice noodle place nearby, and Seon-hyang once again dragged me forward. To be fair, I was pretty tired and hungry, so I probably was pretty slow moving. Still, Seon-hyang tugged at my arm with a strength I couldn't believe a girl of her stature could have. She probably went through military training, I thought to myself, it would explain why she dressed like a soldier when you met her first. My imagination created an image of a younger Seon-hyang getting yelled at by a sergeant, the younger girl hunched over and visibly sobbing, and I felt something bitter collect in my throat. I tried to force the unpleasant image back to where it came from, focusing the feel of Seon-hyang's hand, warm but not sweaty, and very soft, almost like cashmere. The feeling was overpowering and wonderful, and I felt my expression relax. It was wonderful. Everything about her was wonderful, my mind mused, her hair, her face, her neck, her br-

No, no no no! Get your mind out of the gutter, my rational mind screamed before my hormones could take over, she's right there! What if you make a weird face? What if you say something out loud, and she hears it and freaks out? Your friendship would be over! Everything would be over just because of one simple cru-

Just then, my mother turned right and walked into a door, and the rest of us followed. The restaurant seemed normal, with wood flooring and dark red walls, the kitchen visible through a small window with a wooden shelf below, probably where the orders were given out. I looked over to see a large TV screen hanging on one of the walls, broadcasting some sort of commercial for pokemon food, a pretty woman giving her stufful some sort of pink looking goop. A male server in his thirties led us to our wooden table, the restaurant curiously devoid of people. Seon-hyang pulled her chair right up next to me, and leaned next to me, a smile on her face, as we ordered our noodles. My mother and I both got beef dao xiao men, a sort of short flat noodle cut from dough. My father got fish he fen noodles (wide noodles made from rice), Joon-ho and Yeong-mi got some sort of spicy chicken wings, and Seon-hyang got a dish called "ants climbing a tree", ground pork mixed in a spicy Sichuan sauce over cellophane noodles. I had a feeling that she ordered it because of the name, which she laughed at when I read it to her.

"What did you get at the shop?" My dad asked, and I pulled out the two stuffed animals. My mother shot me a unimpressed look, raising one eyebrow.

"The bird, Meimei is for Seon-hyang." I smiled, handing it to her, who took it with wide arms. "The dragon's for me! His name is Zhuangzhuang." Seon-hyang beamed from ear to ear, and hugged Meimei to her chest, and I grinned.

"I always wanted a stuffed animal…" Seon-hyang mumbled to me, rubbing her face softly. "The headmistress wouldn't let us keep anything like this, so… Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" I smiled, noticing the way my dad was staring at me with a knowing smirk. I rolled my eyes, and turned towards Joon-ho and Yeong-mi.

"You two find anything interesting in there?" I asked, and Joon-ho smiled.

"Well there was a really pretty statue of the legendary titans, in the sculpture section." Joon-ho said, a hand to his chin. "And the nine-dragon wall was pretty cool, too!"

"Oh, we saw none of that, I think." I laughed self-deprecatingly. "I think we went too fast…"

"Well, your mother said that the museum's one that you can't visit once and expect to find everything." Yeong-mi pointed out, and I nodded. "So it's natural that you missed stuff!"

"Yeah, you're right." I sighed, as our food was doled out to us. I gestured to Seon-hyang to hand me back the stuffed animal, which she did with a frown.

"I just don't want it to get dirty." I explained, and Seon-hyang nodded in understanding.

My mother was right about this restaurant. I don't know if it was because of my limited eating options in North Korea or just that the food was just brought down from heaven, but these were, by far, the best beef noodles I had in a long time. Seon-hyang was stalling, looking at the cellophane noodles between her chopsticks with a confused look on her face and a scrunched up nose.

"What are these, Marie?" Seon-hyang asked, showing me the transparent noodles with a fearful expression on her face. "Are they plastic?"

"Nope, you're safe!" I said in an assuring tone, and Seon-hyang relaxed, but still looked at her noodles with an odd expression. "They're cellophane noodles, made with starch, not plastic."

"Cellophane…" Seon-hyang pronounced the foreign word with some timidity, still continuing to stare at the noodles. I grabbed my tan chopsticks and grabbed a little of her noodles, and plopped it into my mouth and chewed. After swallowing, I gave her a thumbs up, causing her to giggle loudly. She ate her noodles, chewed, and then imitated my thumbs up. I laughed, ruffling her hair somewhat, before the TV in the right corner of the room caught her eye. I looked over to see a basketball game playing, which appeared to be a CBA game between the Beijing Duckletts and the Shanghai Sharpedos. The Sharpedos were up 15 points, and scored a three pointer as we watched.

"Oh!" Seon-hyang smiled between bites, nudging Yeong-mi with her elbow. "They're playing basketball! Look!" Yeong-mi looked up, transfixed by the game in front of her. I raised my eyebrows at the two of them, a little bit surprised. I, like most people alive during 2014, knew that Kim Jong-un loved basketball as a kid, and that a former NBA star had traveled to Pyongyang and went on international news, raving about how good life in North Korea was before disappearing from the news cycle. However, I had thought that basketball wasn't very popular in North Korea, because of it's country of origin.

"You like basketball?" I asked, and Seon-hyang nodded vigorously.

"I saw a game in Pyongyang 3 years ago." Seon-hyang smiled, rubbing her hands softly. "There was an American team there, the Har… Harlee…"

"Harlem Globetrotters." I said, and Seon-hyang nodded and repeated what I said. "Why were they there?"

"Kim Jong-un wanted better relations with the United States." Yeong-mi stated, finishing her 10th chicken wing. "It was fun, and we performed afterwards."

"Yeah, yeah!" Seon-hyang said, clapping her hands. "The instrumental section played this American song for them, it went something like this…" Seon-hyang began humming the Rocky theme song, causing both my parents to turn towards her with bewildered expressions.

"Did you show her Rocky?" My mother asked, eyebrows straining upwards.

"No, her band performed it." I said, also very amazed myself. "For the Harlem Globetrotters."

My parents remained silent as they looked from Seon-hyang, Yeong-mi, and back to me with shocked expressions.

"Are you serious?" My dad asked, his eyes wide. I grabbed my phone, and after a little bit of searching, I found a picture proving the truth of this story. Seon-hyang was dancing on a tan stage, both hands being held by different members of the Globetrotters, with a smile on all of their faces. Seon-hyang was dressed in her Moranbong uniform, a white, military style shirt and a white, knee-high skirt, feed clad in white heels. I showed the picture to my parents, who gawked at it. Seon-hyang looked over and broke into a smile, pointing to younger version of herself.

"Thats me!" Seon-hyang trumpeted, pointing at herself, very proud of her past achievements.

"Did you defect with the North Korean version of the Spice Girls?" My dad asked, still pretty shocked, but smiling now.

"I guess!" I shrugged, and Seon-hyang lovingly imitated me. "I kinda only knew 'em as 'the band that woke me up at 5 am', though."

"How'd they wake you up?" My mother asked, and I saw interest flash across her face.

I imitated the guitar solo, gesturing with both my hands and my mouth. Seon-hyang thought it was hilarious and burst out into hysterical laughter, head thrown back and arms braced across her chest. I looked over at her as she struggled to stop laughing, smiling and holding up my head with my right hand.

"Eat your food." My mother said to me suddenly, pointing her fork at me, and I pouted. "You probably lost some weight while you were making your way across the border, and you're already pretty skinny, young lady."

I returned to my noodles, which thankfully, weren't cold. I finished them about 15 minutes later, and laid back in my seat, feeling pretty stuffed. Seon-hyang petted my hair, having finished her food as well. I put my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes softly as she continued to rub her hand through my hair.

"Sleepy…" Seon-hyang laughed to herself, poking my nose softly. I opened my eyes and smiled at her, before my father interrupted us.

"Now that all of us are done…" My dad said, smiling at the two of us. "How about we head off, and get some shopping done?" I nodded, and after my mother paid, we headed back out into the streets.

After about 20 minutes of walking, we found ourselves in front of the candy place again, the store's name reading "SLURPUFF SWEETS" in English. Through the massive windows of the shop, I could see clear containers overstuffed with colorful candies, covering the dark tables and orange walls. Seon-hyang's eyes lit up at the sight of all this bright stuff, and she practically picked me up and took me in. The store clerk, a older woman with a short stature and greying hair, greeted us, and Seon-hyang waved back, jittery with excitement.

She zoomed across the store, looking at everything around her with a childlike wonder. It was pretty cute, but the revelation slowly came to me that she likely _never_ had an experience like this over the course of her life, that most of her childhood was probably miserable, now with the knowledge of the fact that the woman who took care of her never let her have a toy of her own. I leaned against one of the few uncovered walls, and watched her with a sad expression. Eventually, Seon-hyang noticed, and walked over to me, a concerned expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Seon-hyang asked me, putting a hand to my face, and I sighed softly, causing her to look downtrodden. "Am I being too childish?"

"No, no, no!" I exclaimed, waving my hands quickly, and Seon-hyang's face relaxed somewhat. "You're fine! I... I just felt really bad, because you've never had the chance to experience something like going into a candy shop, that I had experienced a lot growing up..."

"I wish we had the same childhood." I mumbled. "Happy, loving parents. Lot's of food to go around. A education that prepared you for the world ahead of you…"

"But now I can experience them!" Seon-hyang smiled, holding my hands. "Didn't you say I can start anew here?"

"I did, I did…" I said, tightening my hands around hers. "But… it just seems that when you were a kid, you weren't happy. And I wish you were happy. Like I was."

"Well, I'm happy now!" Seon-hyang hummed. "'Cause I'm traveling with you."

Those words made me feel like my heart was about to explode with euphoria and love, and I let a smile grace across my face. I really wanted to kiss her right now, show to her how much I cared for her, how I wanted to crawl into her arms and live there forever. However, I decided right then, that having a first kiss in a candy shop would be pretty lame, when I could offer her so much more, like a first kiss on the beach or at sunrise. So I just decided to let her lead me to the candies she liked, and let her buy a bag of miscellaneous candies, which she snacked on as we headed out of the store, arm locked around mine.

Unable to find my parents, I swallowed my anxiety and pulled out my phone.

marie: hey where are you?

mom: Your father took us to a store called "Beijing Pokemon Emporium". It should be a ways up from the candy place.

marie: k

I led Seon-hyang (which seemed like a first today), up the street, until I spotted the neon sign, with big bubble characters. I could spot my father through the window, having a lengthy chat with whoever was cashiering that day. My mother was next to him, smiling softly at my father. Well, I sighed to myself, this better not be one of those awful stores that abuses its pokemon. We stepped into the store, and were met with a loud sensor that screamed " **NI HAO!"** at us and caused Seon-hyang to leap out of her skin, and it took her 5 minutes for her to regulate her breathing to a normal level.

"Is that Marie?" The store clerk, a teenage boy of about 17, with a blonde haircut with choppy bangs asked, and I waved in the most professional way I knew how, smiling brightly. Seon-hyang hid behind me, a little shy, and I giggled.

"So the rumors _are_ true! You really are challenging the Chinese league!" The boy exclaimed, practically shaking. "Oh this is wonderful! I can't wait for you to show off your battling skills, man!" I laughed.

"I can't wait either!" I smiled, before the cashier returned to my dad. I looked around the emporium, which seemed to be full of incubators for pokemon eggs, stuffing the walls and the shelf in the middle. Other than a few shelves towards the front full of antidotes and other kinds of medicines for pokemon, the whole place seemed to be dedicated to eggs. Seon-hyang and I walked through it, memories of throwing a fit in one of these stores because my dad wouldn't let me get any pokemon eggs before I got Jessica. None of the eggs seemed to click with me, and I was about to head back to my parents, before I noticed that Seon-hyang wasn't following me. I turned around and walked until I found her looking at an incubator towards the back of the room.

"Seon-hyang…?" I asked, and she turned to me with a surprised expression on her face. "What's up?"

"Marie…" Seon-hyang mumbled, pointing to a incubator on the top shelf, containing a bright blue egg with sky blue, almost white spots. "Could… I… Y'know?"

"Buy it?" I said, and Seon-hyang nodded. I looked at the price, which was only about 50 bucks. It didn't list the pokemon in the egg, and I glanced up to see a white sign, with "MYSTERY EGGS" scribbled in black on it.

"Yeah, I'll go get the cashier." I said, and Seon-hyang smiled at me, squeezing my hand. I walked over to my parents, who were checking out a tan egg with little flecks of a light orange, placed in a travel incubator, which was colored blue and red.

"Who's that one for?" I asked, blinking in surprise.

"Oh, Joon-ho saw this egg, and was interested in it… It was only about 20 bucks." My dad laughed, and I looked to Joon-ho, who shrugged in response. "So why not?"

"Well, Seon-hyang's having similar feelings about an egg back there." I said, and the cashier swung his head around, looking at me. "So…"

"Do you need help, Ms. Jones?" He asked, and I nodded. The cashier smiled, and walked back with me, to where Seon-hyang was still standing, transfixed by the egg. Seon-hyang jumped and skittered towards me as the man walked towards the clunky incubator, unlocking it and placing the egg into a green and grey portable incubator, which he handed to Seon-hyang. Seon-hyang's arms shook a little, and she smiled softly. I walked over the cashier, and paid for the egg and the incubator, and a burn heal that I grabbed on a whim, which ended up being 92 bucks in total.

If I had bought the egg for myself, I'd probably would regretted the buy because of it's price. I could have bought a similar egg for about 20 dollars back home and just buy an incubator second hand for about 10 , when I saw how happy Seon-hyang was, looking down at her egg with a sweet smile and warm, brown eyes, I knew everything I did was right.

I'd pay any amount of money to see her that happy.

* * *

 **historical notes**

 **meyli - means beautiful in chinese**

 **the song marie was singing to herself- "i love beijing tianamen", a popular song in the 1960s. also known for being the soundtrack of the game 'hong kong 97'**

 **seon-hyangs beijing concert actually happened on december 11th 2015, and was an attempt at a "friendship concert" between china and north korea's governments, the former of which is keeping the latter alive. unfortunately KJU said he had produced a hydrogen bomb and chinese downgraded its delegations to lower officals and north korea cancelled and moranbong went home.**

 **nezha- nezha is a real diety in chinese folk religions. most of what i described of him is true (subsituting 'lugia' with 'ao gong'), however i didn't mention that nezha was born in a ball of flesh and he became immortal by slicing his body apart. i also took some liberties with his description to point to his pokemon counterpart in this universe.**

 **seon-hyang's story about the harlem globetrotters was real as well, and there's a vice video on it! just look up "vice north korea basketball" and you'll find it.**

 **and if you're curious and a big kpop nerd... junghwa - uhm junghwa, popular south korean singer and soon-kyu - lee sunny, a singer in the girl group 'girl's generation"**

* * *

 **anyway sorry for the wait, this chapter became ridiculously long lol :) i wanted to write some character stuff and i thought it would be like 6-7k words... i guess i had a lot to write about marie and seon-hyang heheehehe**

 **this might be filler, but i can promise you that the next chapter will set some stuff up, and will be pretty interesting, i promise.**

 **i think im going to start trying for a monthly update schedule, i really wish i could do like.. weekly but i cant :( sorry**

 **please fav, follow, and review :)**

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby, egg - unknown - unknown**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **egg -unknown - unknown**


	12. change come to pass

**authors note:**

 **hello and sorry for the wait! i got some sort of bizarre writers block where i could only write for my other project and not this, which lasted for about 4 weeks in total. thankfully it seems to have cleared up while i was away in canada, and i got most of my writing done there and at home.**

 **the chapter title is from "let me out" by the gorillaz (suuuuper excited for humanz!)**

 **please favorite, follow, and review!**

* * *

The day between going to the Forbidden City and meeting up with the trainers from Alexandria was pretty normal and therefore, unmentionable. My parents didn't take us to any cool museums, just out shopping for new clothes. I got two pairs of jeans, several new shirts, a new jacket, a red party dress for the league opening, dark sneakers and grey heels. Seon-hyang got some clothes and a poetry book about childhood in Korean we managed to find in by digging in a bargain bin. Yeong-mi got clothes and some CDs from a store that my dad took her to, some Beatles, some Prince, some Rolling Stones, and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's title album. Joon-ho got some sort of "trainer's kit" from my dad, and I could only guess where that came from. After we went back to the hotel, we ate our dinner of dumplings and noodles before heading up to our rooms. I flipped through the TV before finding a channel broadcasting MBC (a South Korean station), and I fell asleep in Seon-hyang's warm embrace as she laughed at a variety show featuring a number of celebrity guests with rare pokemon from somewhere in Hawaii.

I woke up the next morning groggy and with an aching crick in my neck. I looked up to see that Seon-hyang appeared to have dozed off while watching TV, which was now playing the news, her eyes closed and head looking down, bangs covering her face. Her expression was peaceful and almost heavenly, her expression soft and relaxed. I weaseled my way out of her tight arms and went over to my bag, picking out my outfit for today, a grey long sleeved shirt, dark jeans, and fresh new white socks, and I briefly marveled at the clean feeling. As I got dressed, I was listening to the news through one ear.

"Former culture minister, Cho Yoo-sun was arrested last night for accusations that she blacklisted around 10,000 artists for criticizing President Park Geun-hye." The reporter, a middle aged man with his hair slicked back and wearing a nice suit, droned on as I changed. A picture of Yoo-sun, a woman about my mother's age, with bobbed dark hair, a wedge shaped face, and dark eyes that bored through the TV screen. She wore a white shirt underneath a dark suit jacket, and was being escorted by four policemen in navy blue uniforms, one with a growlithe close behind, sniffing at the ground. "After the arrest, Cho submitted her resignation to the Prime Minister, who accepted."

I sighed at the news, and looked over at the TV witheringly. It was a shame that the others had to enter the outside world at such an awful time everywhere in the world… I guess it couldn't be helped.

I looked over to see Seon-hyang blinking awake and sweeping her bangs to the side, then stretching her arms up to the sky. She looked up at me in a daze, before smiling brightly.

"Good morning!" She chirped, and I smiled crookedly in response. Seon-hyang sat up from the couch, and looked over my outfit with an interested look. She wore a white t-shirt covered with a design about a school play I had preformed in my senior year, which hung sloppily from her torso, and dark sweats that had to be tied to fit on her waist. Seon-hyang had pouted last night when she had to tie the clothes to her waist. The incubator lay by her feet, the egg inside sporting a significant crack in it, which Seon-hyang paraded around excitedly, eyes glimmering. Seon-hyang hummed as she walked over to me, swinging her arms before leaning against me.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked, and Seon-hyang nodded against my shoulder.

"Yeah, I did." She smiled gently, looking up at me. "You?"

"Eh…" I gestured vaguely, and Seon-hyang's expression dropped to one of concern. "I have a little crick in my neck, but it's okay!" Seon-hyang relaxed before the TV caught her eye. A commercial was playing for some sort of chocolate snack, with a girl group that I vaguely recalled from ads in Koreatown. There seemed to be 50 of them all together, and they were all smiling and holding up the snack, with a chirping pikipek on one of the girl's arm. Seon-hyang watched with an unimpressed look on her face and furrowed eyebrows.

"It's so dumb…!" Seon-hyang groaned, throwing her head back. I giggled a little.

"It might be, but it makes a lot of money." I pointed out as I straightened out my shirt, and Seon-hyang crossed her arms.

"That makes it even more stupid!" She complained, frowning angrily. "Do people need money that bad, that they'll do stupid stuff for the camera?"

"Yep." I said, and Seon-hyang snorted in disgust. She looked over to Yeong-mi, who was still dead asleep on the bed, limbs sprawled out and snoring heavily. Seon-hyang pouted at the sight, before turning to the television, which was showing the protests in the street of Seoul. She peered at the thousands of people marching with candles and signs, singing pop songs and shouting for the president to resign. Her face was wide with shock and amazement, and she seemed glued to the screen.

"'Park Geun-hye, step down!'" Seon-hyang repeated the chant the protesters shouted, before turning towards me. "What do they mean?"

"They want the lady running South Korea to step down, so they can elect someone different."

"Huh…" Seon-hyang said, covering her mouth and looking thoughtful before the sound of rustling blankets startled the two of us. A sleepy Joon-ho walked over to us, and glanced at the TV with his barely open eyes. He blinked a little at the sight of the massive march.

"What's going on?" He asked me, rubbing his eyes.

"People are upset at the South Korean president." I said. "They're calling for her to resign."

"Why?" Joon-ho asked, eyes wide.

"Allegedly, one of her friends had a say in almost everything she did, state affairs, speeches, even what she wore." I explained to the best of my ability. South Korean politics wasn't exactly my forte, but I had heard about the story from news stations in Canada, mostly in Koreatown. "This friend then bribed businessmen to give money to her charities, and used that money for her own gain. It's a very long story."

"Wow…" Joon-ho muttered to himself, rubbing his somewhat stubbly chin. "And the government isn't cracking down on them for?"

"No." I shook my head. "Everything they're doing is legal, as long as they don't hurt others."

"Huh." Joon-ho mumbled, a hint of a smile on his face. "Cool."

The television image switched from protests to international news. The US president was at some press conference in the White House, judging by the ornate walls and red carpet, discussing all sorts of issues. Naturally, we came up in the discussion, and the news played his response

"We have a lot of good men over in Korea, a lot of good folks." The president said, Korean subtitles translating his speech for the two of them to read. "We have found no evidence to North Korea's lies, no soldiers that could have done this awful, terrible act. North Korea must admit to it's lies, and tell it's people the truth about what happened, or we will deal with them very strongly, very toughly." I rolled my eyes, and turned my head to the North Koreans to gauge their reactions. The two of them were looking at the man on the screen with scrunched up faces and raised eyebrows, so they weren't exactly impressed.

"I liked the old guy better." Joon-ho snorts dismissively.

"Well, a lot of Americans will agree with you." I snarked. "He's not exactly very popular there." Joon-ho laughs softly, as the screen switches to a commercial for some sort of makeup. With that, he gathered his clothes and went into the bathroom to change. Seon-hyang was humming along to the background music of one of the ads, a chirpy little tune. Yeong-mi got up shortly after that, scratching her hair and looking very drowsy. She wobbled over to the couch and laid down, watching the TV, which was now playing a drama.

The drama, from my standpoint, was pretty cliche and stupid, with a pointless love triangle and ridiculous conflict. However, the two girls were riveted to the screen, cheering on the female lead and watching nervously when the tension grew between the characters. I just rolled my eyes, lying against the couch.

"Wait, wait wait wait!" Seon-hyang shouted from the couch, by Yeong-mi's side, as the show cut to the ending theme after a particularly dramatic scene. "It just ends like that? What about Yuna's brother?"

"You'll have to find out next week." I said, as the channel swapped to commercials. Seon-hyang threw her head back and groaned loudly. I laughed a little, before Joon-ho walked out of the bathroom in a gray hoodie and dark blue jeans. He looked over at us with an expectant expression.

"Are we heading out to breakfast?" Joon-ho asked, and I nodded, grabbing my purse, which rested against the couch. Seon-hyang scooped up her incubator and carried it in her arms, not seeming to mind the extra weight.

In the elevator, everyone seemed humming with excited energy, and I smiled a little. I'd probably be translating for most of the day, but at least I'd be able to see Addy again, and feel a little bit normal today instead of a fugitive running from a country run by a crazed dictator.

"What do you think we're going to do today?" Yeong-mi asked, leaning against the railing of the elevator.

"Mmm… We're probably going to have some sort of 'get to know each other' event for the other kids coming to the opening." I said, rubbing my mouth absent-mindedly. "Probably between the Canadian and American students. My friend is going to be there."

"Really?" Joon-ho asked. I nodded softly. "Is he a trainer too?"

"Nope, coordinator." I said, and Joon-ho nodded in understanding.

The doors opened, and we walked towards the lounge, the North Koreans staying close to me. All the other trainers were eating and/or chatting at their tables, and Mr. Moreau was talking with my father, with Addy floating by his side, looking around him in anticipation and with wide eyes. He wore a red button up shirt and dark slacks, and an evolved Dewie hung around him, standing on her two stubby legs and crossing her arms, showing off the flowers at the end of her arms. The instant we spotted each other, he ran towards me, and threw his arms around me, chattering excitedly. I leaned in with a grin, hugging him tightly and trying not to cry into his shoulder.

"You look nice!" He chirped, after separating from my embrace. Dewie looked up at us with a soft smile. Seon-hyang clutched onto my mother's arm, peeking out at Addy, who smiled knowingly at me.

"So _that's_ the lucky girl, huh?" Addy teased, nudging my ribs. I rolled my eyes. "What's her name?"

"Lee Junghwa." I lied through my teeth, and Addy stuck his hand out for Seon-hyang to shake, who gingerly shook it. "She's from Yanbian Prefecture, a lot of Koreans live there."

"Well, nice to meetcha!" Addy grins, before turning to face Joon-ho and Yeong-mi, who were grinning at us, Ggwek-ggwek asleep in Joon-ho's arms. "And who are these folks?"

"Park Soon-kyu and Park Joon-ho. Also from Yanbian."

"Wooow…!" Addy grinned, clapping his hands together. "Only a week in and you have three traveling partners! Pretty impressive…"

"Ehh, it's nothing." I laughed, rubbing my nose slightly. "I was expecting you to be with someone by now, as well."

"I don't have anyone yet, but there's a reason for that…" Addy said, grinning ear to ear. Seon-hyang slowly walks forward, watching him dance slightly. "I'm waiting for someone special…"

"Who's that?"

"Well, Conor Li, of course!" Addy cheered, jumping up and down. Seon-hyang jumped back in shock, and my mother held her hand to comfort her. "He's so handsome, man!"

"How are you going to do that?" I laughed. "He's a big guy here, one of the biggest contenders for winning the champion position."

"Well, so are you!" Addy grinned, and I rolled my eyes. "C'mon! We're friends, and Conor wants to meet you! So you two meet, and you introduce me to him, and the two of us hit it off and become traveling companions! What do ya say?"

"Sure." I sigh, and Addy cheers and raises his fist in victory. Mr. Moreau laughs and turns to my father, who was looking over at a shrinking Seon-hyang.

"Junghwa's a little shy, hm?" He asks, fixing the collar of his grey turtleneck. I nodded quickly.

"She's not really used to the big city, sir." I explained. "Lived in a rural village most of her life, so all these people and noise shocks her a little."

"I see." Mr. Moreau said, turning towards me. I couldn't read his expression. "Well, you really did give us quite the spook back in Alexandria. I assume that you had bad connection at your landing site?"

I flinched in shock and fear. I had thought about the panic that my radio silence caused back at home, but it still bit at my heart painfully.

"Yes sir," I nodded sadly. "I had no service there. I'm sorry for scaring everyone for a week, sir."

"I understand." Mr. Moreau sighed. "All I ask is that you do not repeat your mistake on your journey, and call the island every time you arrive in a new city."

"I will, sir."

Mr. Moreau turned his attention to Seon-hyang, who wasn't hiding away anymore, but standing by my side, fidgeting with the incubator in her arms. He waved to the woman, who hesitated, before waving back cautiously.

"Hello Junghwa." He said slowly, before pointing to her incubator. "Is that yours?"

"Yes." Seon-hyang smiled softly. "Marie got it for me."

"Really?" Mr. Moreau asked, and Seon-hyang nodded. "That's cool. What pokemon do you think it is?"

Seon-hyang shrugged, looking very thoughtful.

"It was one of those 'mystery egg' shops." My dad explained, and Seon-hyang glanced up at him with curious eyes. "So, none of us know!"

"Well, I better be off." Mr Moreau says suddenly, fidgeting with his sweater. "I got to register you three and two others from South Korea as delegates for the league opening. See you later!"

We waved goodbye as he walked away to a table, with his laptop sprawled on top. Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi lead us to our own table, and we ordered our food. Addy mainly chatted to us between his omelet about Seoul and how Dewie evolved, which was very suddenly and while he was traveling to the city. I told him about Yifei and how Varaha evolved, which excited him. Ggwek-ggwek woke up, and was wandering around our table, Joon-ho watching cautiously. A few minutes after we ate, Mr. Moreau gathered all of us together and lead us out of the hotel, into the busy morning streets of Beijing. It was really chilly, about 0 degrees celsius, and all of us huddled together as we walked, shivering slightly.

"Where are we going?" Seon-hyang asked, clutching onto my arm.

"Oh, we're heading to meet other trainers that came to Beijing." I said between shivers. "From other parts of Canada!"

"Really?" Yeong-mi asked, poking her head out.

"Yeah!" I grinned, before my grin faltered. "But if anyone asks you where you're from, say that you're from China." The three of them nodded in understanding.

We reached the large white oval shaped stadium a few minutes afterward. A flood of journalists with cameras flashing and loud voices surrounded us, and we squeezed through with some protests, and I was about to follow my mom inside, before my dad clapped his hand onto my shoulder, and turned to face me, and nodded at me. They wanted to take pictures of us together.

We walked to the granite stairs towards the front, my dad's hand clasped on my shoulder. I grinned as the cameras flashed, and the photographers shouted out our names.

"Sayako Amanokowa from NHK!" A journalist shouted, walking up the steps towards us. Her red hair flapped in the wind, and her crescent shaped dark eyes peered at us, and she was wearing a large black puffy coat. "Marie, are you planning on completing the Chinese league challenge when it opens?"

"Yes, I am." I smiled, and my dad rubbed my shoulder. "I am looking forward to the league opening."

A loud bout of chattering began, mostly to my dad, asking if he was proud of me, which garnered a nod. We stood in the cold for about 5 minutes, before the two of us headed into the stadium, visibly shivering. The stadium blasted humid heat at us, and the stadium opened up into a gigantic common room, populated with trainers from Canadian and American cities, with their pokemon beside them. Seon-hyang was looking at us, staying towards the doors even though my mother and the Lees were congregating with the other trainers.

"What were you doing?" Seon-hyang asked, eyes glimmering with curiosity.

"Taking photographs." I chirped, and Seon-hyang smiled a little. I rummaged through my bag and released Jessica, who glanced around the room, humming . My dad lead us into the main hall, and I only had a moment to process everything around me before Addy slammed into me, Bunie bouncing behind him.

"Dude, dude!" He whisper-shouts, and I whip towards him with a surprised expression. "He's _here!_ Conor Li is _here,_ man!"

He points, and Jessica and I followed his gaze to spot a relaxing Conor in the New York City line, wearing a white dress shirt, purple sweater, and dark jeans, his darumaka hopping by his side. Addy pushed me and gestured for me to go to him, so I did with Jessica and Seon-hyang close behind, noticing the American trainers stares at the two of us. Seon-hyang seemed uncomfortable with her newfound relevance, and stayed close to me.

"They're looking at me…" Seon-hyang muttered to herself, rubbing her arms absentmindedly. "Why…?"

"It's 'cause you look like a movie star!" I grinned, and Seon-hyang flushed a bright pink. "They think you're beautiful!" Seon-hyang pushed me teasingly and laughed loudly as we walked further.

We reached Conor, who was chatting up a girl with short brown hair and dark eyes, with a rockruff squealing and kicking in her arms. All the other American students froze in my presence, and I felt a twinge of self consciousness at their reaction.

"Conor Li?" I asked, and Conor whipped his head to face me, and the smile dropped off his face, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Seon-hyang stared at him with wide eyes and a small smile.

"Hello!" I greeted, stretching my hand out. "My name is Marie Jones. It's nice to meet you!"

Conor mumbled a response and shook my hand, a little dazed. His darumaka tottled over to Jessica, who mimicked me by straightening up and sticking her hand out in a handshake. I laughed at her, which caused her to smile up at me.

"It's an honor to meet you." The girl smiled, shaking my hand. "I'm Eliza Achara. Your father was an inspiration to me." I blushed pink, and looked away slightly.

"Who are you?" Conor suddenly regained his voice, pointing to Seon-hyang, who blinked in surprise. "Are you Marie's sister?"

"Nope!" I shook my head. "This is my friend and traveling partner, Junghwa! She's a little shy." Seon-hyang waved nervously, the best she could while holding her incubator. Eliza's rockruff had left her hands, and was now poking around Seon-hyang's feet. Seon-hyang bent down to pet the little dog pokemon, who yelped happily and climbed all over her, causing Seon-hyang to laugh hysterically as it licked her face. I beamed, amazed at Seon-hyang's transformation from the cold soldier who viewed pokemon as 'imperialist tools', to a smiling, cheerful girl who was excited to get a pokemon of her own. It made me so warm that I swore I was about to explode, and I barely managed to wrench my eyes away.

"So," I grinned, turning to Conor, who jumped a little. "I heard from a certain source that you wanted to battle me?" Conor's eyes widened, reaching for his pokeballs, and I laughed.

"Not now, obviously!" I said, waving my hands in front of me. "I mean, that if you wanted to battle in the future, I'd be up for it!" Conor nodded, and he was about to talk, before Addy, the Lees and my parents walked up to us, causing a loud chatter amongst the American students. Conor and Eliza looked absolutely starstruck, and my father grinned before turning to me.

"Making some friends, you two?" He grinned, and Seon-hyang sat up, and chattered to Yeong-mi excitedly about the rockruff, which ran back to its owner. I nodded with a smile.

Addy walked over to Conor, visibly shaking with excitement and grinning wildly, and greeted Conor, who seemed to relax. I guess Addy was right, because the two seemed to immediately hit it off, chattering about plays and movies. They seemed to talk for forever, and I had a gut feeling that the two were practically made for each other. I guess Addy was going to get that hot boyfriend after all.

After a hour of chatting between the two boys, I felt exhausted. My head spun, my legs ached with the effort of keeping me upright, and my throat felt dry. I told my dad that I was going to get a drink when he wasn't swarmed with trainers asking for autographs, and slipped away from the group, walking into a side hallway. I was met with a dark wooden hallway, none of the lights on, the only light being the sunlight through the windows. I felt uncomfortable as I walked through the halls, floors creaking as I walked forward. I tried to avert my thoughts, thinking about the two people I met. Conor seemed kind of nice, a little awkward around me, but I guess it was because of my father's legacy. Eliza seemed sweet, and I think her rockruff got her brownie points with Seon-hyang. It felt odd meeting the American trainers, who thought of me as some sort of celebrity and legendary trainer, even though I was probably on the same level as them (without using Yifei of course). It was very constricting, to expect to be this amazing trainer that could do everything great on her first try. Hopefully, this would all blow over shortly.

I heard a creak, and I froze, shaking a little. I didn't hear anything move, or anything making a noise in the quiet of the halls. I shook it off, it was just my nerves acting up and hearing things. Either that, or Seon-hyang followed me into the hallway to check up on how I was, and was trying to surprise me. I smiled at that, thinking about how cute she was with her caring nature. She was starting to open up to my parents, even through the language barrier, and didn't seem to freaked out when meeting Conor and Eliza, smiling a lot throughout the conversation. It felt good to see her that happy, and I felt surprised that I wasn't jealous that it wasn't directed towards me.

As I walked forward, I heard the creaking start again, and I just shut my eyes and walked faster. I'm just being irrationally anxious, if it is someone, it's probably one of my fans, Seon-hyang, or someone who wants to ask me about my dad. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Marie Jones." A feminine voice said, a higher tone than Seon-hyang's, and I relaxed a little. Just a fan, just a fan. I ignored them, wanting to get a drink first before signing someone's book.

"Marie Jones." The person says again, a little more agitated this time. I rolled my eyes and snorted angrily. Leave me alone, my mind growled, I don't want to talk or sign anything right now!

" _ **JACKAL!**_ " The person screamed in Korean, and I felt my heart slam into my gut, and I swung around to face the person stalking me. I was met with a younger looking girl, with rounded eyes and a circular face with rosy cheeks and pink lips pulled into a frown. Her dark hair only reached to her ears, and a little strand of hair hung in her eyes. She was wearing the dark green North Korean military uniform that Yeong-mi and Seon-hyang once wore, except she wore a knee high skirt in the same color as her uniform, and tan colored stockings instead of pants. She was glaring at me with an angry expression, lips pressed thin and eyes narrowed.

"So you aren't deaf, jackal." She sneered, and I felt myself break out into a cold sweat, and my throat constricted painfully. I swallowed with some give.

"My name is Park Guk-hyang, of the Korean People's Army, Moranbong Band division." The woman rambled, walking closer to me, as I stepped back. "The Glorious Marshal knows of what you have done, Marie Guangyu Jones."

"Listen, I can-"

"Did I ask you to speak?" She growled, and I shut my mouth and stared at her in fear. "No? So keep your maw shut, awful beast."

"You came into the Motherland with one intention, and that was to sabotage the serenity of its people." Guk-hyang continued. "So you kidnapped my comrade Yeong-mi and my beloved unnie Seon-hyang, wrangled an innocent soldier in the trap of your lies, and smuggled them across the border to plunge them into the depravity that you were born into, with your tainted bloodline."

I narrowed my eyes and felt rage build up under my skin, itching painfully. It was no different from what the kids at the schoolyard said to me when I was little, calling me things that still cause me to feel a burn of anger in my gut. I was a scared little kid back then, but now I was an adult, who could only feel rage at being belittled and looked down upon by some bitch in a uniform. How dare she bring up my family into this? She had no right, _no right_ to call _my_ blood **tainted**!

"So, the Marshal sent all of his devoted Moranbong members into China, where you fled with your hostages, gave all of us his beloved and powerful pokemon that his father gave him to defend this country against any invaders like you." Guk-hyang stops moving, and looks at me with a steely gaze. "With the Marshal's beloved pokemon, I _will_ kill you, and free comrade Yeong-mi and Seon-hyang unnie from your twisted grasp."

I was too angry to think rationally about the situation at hand, how much damage a pokemon battle could cause to this hallway, and how Mr. Moreau might react. I wanted to make that brat eat her words faster than she could run her mouth about Kim Jong-un's greatness. I wanted revenge, dark and red and screaming deep within my heart. And I wanted to show that little fatty that I wasn't going to let him win, wasn't gonna let his little toy soldiers get away with mocking _my family_!

"Fine." I spat, and I reached into my purse, and pulled out a pokeball from my bag, and pressed the white button on the front. "Try your best."

* * *

 **a little short, but i kinda needed this chapter to set up the main conflict of the story.**

 **also i managed to make this chapter on schedule! i was worried i was going to push it back to may, but i managed to break through my writers block and get this sucker out of the way. chapter 12 is seemly coming easier for me, which makes me excited! a lot of interesting stuff is coming for this story, i promise!**

 **if you're wondering, i'm not particularly fond of this posturing between the us and nkorea. if the korean war does restart it will be devastating for both sides, and probably will end in another painful and bloody draw, or nuclear armageddon. lets hope it's neither.**

 **anyway i had a great spring break, went up to see family and tour colleges in canada. i took my first and last visit to niagara falls, the falls were pretty grreat but the whole place is one long loud and garish tourist trap. i ate at a place called burger's priest, which lived up to its name of being a divine burger resturaunt, and got two tintin books. all in all, it was a great trip.**

 **please fav, follow, and review!**

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby, egg - unknown - unknown**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **egg -unknown - unknown**


	13. i am the eye in the sky, looking at you

**authors note:**

 **hey folks! this chapter came relatively easy for me, so its coming a little earlier than it usually does! hopefully this is a new trend with my writing, hehehe**

 **anyways, please favorite, follow and review if you enjoyed this so far! every notification i get encourages me to write faster!**

 **chapter title is from "eye in the sky" by the alan parson project**

 **i hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Yifei roared as she was released, and turned to growl at me with her arms folded, but looked surprised when I glared right back at her, her eyes changing from confusion to what looked like respect, before turning to snarl at Guk-hyang. The woman looked shocked at the sight of the bear pokemon for a second, before reaching towards her belt and un clipping a single pokeball from it, no others in sight. I was somewhat relieved, from what I read, Kim Jong Un could afford caviar and fancy Mercedes Benz cars. He could probably afford to buy from elite pokemon breeders who breed for strength above all else. If I had to battle a whole team like that, I'd lose painfully.

"Fool!" She laughed. "No pokemon could ever _dream_ of defeating one of the Marshal's pokemon! Taste the fury of the Korean people, Marie Jones!"

With a press of a button, the soldier released a typhlosion, who growled angrily at the gigantic bear pokemon and stood up on it's stubby tan hind legs, barely reaching Yifei's chest, the fire around it's neck blazing in bursts. Yifei turned to me, a toothy grin on her face and she cracked her knuckles loudly, and I nodded, before thinking this over for the first time in the last five minutes.

We had the advantage here, with Yifei's bulldoze being very effective against fire types. Plus, typhlosion was a pure fire type, so there wasn't any other types I had to worry about negating the attack. However, I had no idea how long Jong-un had trained his pokemon for, or what moves it had. If it had a fighting type move, we could be screwed, and I'd have to swap… But who? Jessica was still with Seon-hyang and the others, and neither Varaha or Nina had any moves that could have the same effect as bulldoze. I'd have to fight defensively, and act with caution.

"Beast, attack them!" Guk-hyang pointed towards us.

The typhlosion snorted in response, got on all fours and began a charge towards Yifei with skittering feet. I had barely realized that the pokemon had turned somewhat and was headed towards me before Yifei flung one of her arms into its belly, sending it flying into a nearby wall with a slam. It took me a second to gather my bearings, and I looked over at Yifei. The pangoro glanced over at me and sniffed at me, as if she was telling me to take care of myself more.

"Thanks." I said to her in Chinese. Yifei just snorted and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. She huffed loudly before looking over at the rising typhlosion, who didn't seem very gravely injured.

The typhlosion growled at Yifei, spluttering out fire from it's neck, forming a large mane. I stepped back and watched as it hurled a blast of fire from its maw, towards Yifei. She was hit with most of it, and I could feel the heat radiating off her. Yifei stumbled for a second, before gathering herself and stabilizing, visibly angrier than before, and she roared angrily at the typhlosion. I caught sight of small flames on her belly and visible burns through her singed fur, and I reached for my burn heal through the junk in my bag.

"Yifei!" I said, and she turned to me, eyes narrowed and fangs visible, growling under her breath. Through sheer luck, I managed quickly to reach her belly without her throwing me into the wall or the typhlosion reaching us and crushing me, who was snarling at us and stamping its stubby foot down, a good distance away. Guk-hyang was howling at it to move, but whoever (Kim Jong-un?) trained this typhlosion knew basic battle etiquette, not to attack a pokemon when a trainer is attending to it. I applied the light blue liquid to her burns, and walked away from her quickly after, arms over my head. Instead of her snarling at me or attacking me, she stared down at me, eyes wide in amazement.

"All good?" I asked, and she nodded. After a pause, she grinned at me, the shoot in her mouth moving towards the right. I felt a pang of excitement run through me, and I grinned back at her. "Good."

"Yifei, use arm thrust!" I shouted, and Yifei ran up to the typhlosion and slammed a fist into its chest, causing it to yowl out. It skittered backward, barely hitting the hallway wall, and almost fell over, legs barely holding it up. After it gather its bearings and stood up tall, it tried to run at Yifei again, before she slammed a furred fist into its tan jaw, sending it spinning. The typhlosion lunged forward, sinking its jaws into Yifei's shoulder, who growled and spun around until the typhlosion let go of her shoulder, leaving behind a nasty looking crescent shaped wound, and flew off. It slammed into the back wall with a loud thud before wobbling to its feet, and I watched it snarl again, this time much weaker. It didn't seem to have much fight left in it, and looking over at Yifei's slouched form, she didn't have a whole lot either. The battle was nearing its end.

"Stupid beast!" Guk-hyang screamed, her face very very red. The typhlosion turned to her and screamed, baring its sharp teeth. I wanted to shout at her for provoking a very dangerous and seemingly barely obedient pokemon, but I kept mum. "Do you know who you belong to? Do you not know of his power? Kill them in the Marshals name!"

The typhlosion howled at her before charging, a red and orange aura surrounding it. It slammed forward into Yifei's stomach, which she blocked with her arms. She tilted back somewhat after the impact, feet scrabbling to stay upright. She clutched her arm in pain after the typhlosion retreated, snarling loudly. She ran at the typhlosion while holding her arm, kicked it in the gut, causing it to reel forward. Before the typhlosion could gather its bearings, Yifei slammed her foot back into its stomach and stomped it into the ground, the floor shaking with the effort. The typhlosion just lay on the ground for around 30 seconds, until Guk-hyang's pokeball beeped loudly and automatically retrieved it with a flash of red light to prevent further injury. Yifei glanced over at me, and grinned wildly, shoot rotating in her mouth. I grinned back at the bear pokemon, flashing a thumbs up, which she promptly mimicked.

Guk-hyang just stood there, face blanche and eyes wide and brimming with tears, but her mouth was pulled into a tight frown. Her hands were drawn into tight fists, and she was shaking from anger. She'd lost this battle, even though Kim Jong-un told her that she _needed_ to win it. I walked over to her, smile dropping from my face, and she glared at me.

"You need to apologize." I said lowly, glaring straight back at her. Guk-hyang briefly looked at me with shock, as if she wasn't expecting me to actually fight back. But as fast as that sudden expression change happened, it was gone.

"For what?" Guk-hyang sneered, still trying to act tough.

"For calling me a bastard, that's what!" I shouted, and Guk-hyang flinched somewhat, reeling back in mild shock. "Did you think I'd really let that little remark slip by, Guk-hyang? Did you? I've lived on this earth for _twenty-fucking-years_ and I've had that same bullshit rhetoric spat at me for almost all of them! What makes you think that I'd let the likes of _you_ get away with it, huh?"

"Well, I thought-"

"You thought _what?_ You'd thought I'd be too afraid to say anything because you're in a military uniform?" I asked, and Guk-hyang shrunk down, looking at me with big, scared eyes. "Oh please. You have no power in China, let alone anywhere else but North Korea! Your uniform means _nothing!_ Your rank means _nothing!_ Nothing that made you powerful in North Korea means anything here! You're just some girl wearing a funny green uniform with tights! He doesn't-"

"Marie?"

Surprised by the sudden voice, I turned around to face a shocked Seon-hyang, eyes wide, mouth open agape, and holding her incubator tightly in her arms. Jessica was standing by her side, glaring angrily at Yifei, stubby pink arms folded across her chest. Guk-hyang turned to face her, and I watched her expression brighten into a grin.

"Unnie!" Guk-hyang squealed, and pounced on the confused and very stiff woman. Jessica growled at the girl, stepping back a bit and crossing her arms tighter. "She hasn't hurt you! Thank goodness!"

"Y-Yeah, I am." Seon-hyang stuttered, looking very uncomfortable. "But… why are you… here?"

"Cause I'm here to save you!" Guk-hyang cheered, and Seon-hyang looked taken aback. "That beast has taken you prisoner, and I'm here to free you!"

"Wha-? No!" Seon-hyang yelled, and Guk-hyang took a step back, shock written on her face. "I don't need to be saved! I don't _want_ to be saved!"

Guk-hyang looked horrified for a few seconds, before clapping her hands in front of Seon-hyang's nose. She flinched back at the sudden noise, before her face contorted in anger, glaring at the beaming Guk-hyang.

"What was that for?" Seon-hyang snapped, crossing her arms. Guk-hyang's expression changed back into one of shock.

"That beast brainwashed you, didn't she?" Guk-hyang insisted, pointing towards me. Yifei growled lowly at her, causing her finger to retreat somewhat. "That's why you don't want to go back to the motherland!"

"It's not that either!" Seon-hyang groaned, crossing her arms. "I like being here in China. I like traveling with Marie. I like Marie. There's no brainwashing." I smiled a little at that remark, and rubbed my cheeks.

"But the Marshal…! He wants you to perform in Moranbong! With the rest of your band members... With me…!"

"I don't want to." Seon-hyang said plainly, shutting her eyes. "The M… Jong-un made me become a singer. I never wanted to become a singer! Marie taught me to choose what _I_ wanted to be, so I decided to travel with her."

Guk-hyang glared at the both of us, eyes flitting to me, then to Seon-hyang. Her eyes were dark with thought and confusion, and her lips were pursed in a frown. I couldn't guess what she was thinking, maybe she would listen to reason because Seon-hyang's the one talking to her. However, all my hopes were dashed when she began to speak.

"Therefore you're a traitor to the people of Korea, just like that beast!" Guk-hyang shouted, reaching for her pokeball. Seon-hyang cocked her head in confusion, while Jessica jumped in front of her protectively. "You two will face the power of the Marshals dearest pokemon, and die for your crimes."

"Guk-hyang, your pokemon can't fight!" I shouted, and Yifei snarled at her, crossing her arms. "If it's released out of it's pokeball, it could die!"

"Oh, shut up, stupid jackal!" Guk-hyang sneered at me, and Seon-hyang gaped at her. I swallowed my rage and tried to be rational about this. "The Marshal's pokemon cannot die, as cannot the power of the great nation of Korea! Foolish beast, your pokemon must be too weak to fight, that's why you do not wish to-"

Guk-hyang's babbling was interrupted by Jessica, who walked up to her, glaring at her all the while. Before anything was said, the clefairy waggled her finger, which glew with a slight white light, not enough to blind, but enough to be visible. Suddenly, a large cloud of green powder fell over Guk-hyang, who turned around rapidly with fear in her eyes, before she burst out laughing when it didn't hurt her immediately.

"Foolish jackal! Do you really think a little bit of powder can stop me? The Marshal's power burns through my... veins and gives me the ability to fight… death." Guk-hyang boasted, but I noticed a slur in her voice that became more prominent. "He… gave me all of the things… I have in this… world. You've… forsaken… his gratitude… Seon… Hyang…"

With that, Guk-hyang collapsed in a heap upon the ground, dead asleep. Seon-hyang looked down at her with wide eyes, before glancing up at me with confused eyes.

"She's asleep." I said, bending over to check her pulse just in case, which thrummed noticeably under my fingertip.

"What should we do?" Seon-hyang asked, her voice high with anxiety. "I-I don't want to go back to North Korea…!"

"I know you don't, and you won't go back." I comforted her, walking forward and placing a hand on her cheek. Seon-hyang glanced up at me with scared doe-like eyes, and she trembled underneath my hand. "It's best she stays in China with us, for now. If she goes back to Pyongyang, Kim Jong-un will both know our location and will execute Guk-hyang for failing her mission, which she said was to kill me."

Seon-hyang flinches at the thought of that.

"We need to change her clothes and burn the uniform." I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Go get my parents and tell them to follow you, okay?"

Seon-hyang nodded, and walked back down the hallway. Jessica stayed by my side instead of heading with Seon-hyang, glaring at the sleeping girl. I spotted a healing station glowing in the corner of my eye, only a few paces away, and I retrieved Yifei and placed her pokeball on it, before letting her out after she was healed. Yifei didn't roar or charge at me when released, just looked at the prone body of the soldier in curiousity. The two of us walked back to Guk-hyang, and I unclipped her pokeball from her waist. I reached for my phone in my purse and scanned the pokeball, poring over the information given.

POKEMON SPECIES: Typhlosion

NICKNAME: 범 (Beom)

GENDER: Male

CAUGHT IN: Bern, Switzerland

IDENTIFICATION NUMBER: 326315

MOVES:

Flare Blitz

Frustration

Lava Plume

Flamethrower

CURRENT TRAINER: Kim Pak-un

CAPTURE DATE: 2 September 1998

PREVIOUS TRAINERS: UNKNOWN

Kim Pak-un? I frowned at the screen, squinting my eyes somewhat. Who was Pak-un? It sounded similar to Kim Jong-un, so it was probably just a pseudonym of some sort. I honestly had expected the location to pull up as "NO DATA", but I was more surprised that Beom had been caught or born in Switzerland of all places. Not Malaysia or Laos, countries where North Korea had significant allies, but a European country with pretty bad relations with the Kim regime. Had Jong-un been to Switzerland? Or had Beom been bought there and then shipped to North Korea? This was all very mysterious…

"Marie?!" My mother shouted, and I looked up to see my parents, the Lees, and Addy walking with Seon-hyang. My mother ran forward and hugged me to her chest, running her hands through my hair.

"What happened?" My dad asked after my mom let go of me.

I explained the events to the best of my ability, and watched as shocked expressions unfolded on my parents and Addy's faces. After I ended my story, everyone seemed to be in a state of very violent shock. There was silence between us, all waiting for another to start talking.

It was my mother who broke the silence.

"We can't send her back there." My mother said firmly, and I nodded. "She could get seriously hurt…"

She turned to Seon-hyang, who blinked up at her.

"Do you know this girl?" My mother asked, and Seon-hyang nodded.

"She was a musician, like me." Seon-hyang said haltingly. "She was like my little sister."

"Wait, what?" Addy shouted, before turning to me. "Junghwa knows a North Korean soldier? What's going on?"

"Well, Addy… I lied to you." I said, and Addy stared at me with wide eyes. "I did not land in China. I landed in Nampo, North Korea."

"NORTH KOREA?" Addy yelled, and my parents and the Lees shushed him. "Y-You landed _there?_ "

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Are you, like… okay?" Addy asked, looking at me with wide eyes.

"I… Guess…?"

"What do you mean, you 'guess'?" Addy yelled, looking directly at me. "Marie, you landed in a dictatorship run by some short dude only about... 12 years older than us, who has daddy issues and kills anyone who speaks out against him! How are you _okay?_ "

"I… I just thought it would end when I got to Beijing." I said, looking at my feet. "I thought I'd have enough time to evade them before they realized where I was. It was wishful thinking, really."

I heard Addy open his mouth, before shutting it abruptly. I looked up to see him just looking at me, and I frowned somewhat. My mother had left, probably to get Guk-hyang a change of clothes. It took a few minutes for Addy to gather his words together.

"...How was North Korea?" Addy asked.

"Grey." I said, fidgeting with my hands. "Very monotone."

Addy looked thoughtful, looking up at me. I wondered what he thought of me now. Did he think I was a liar, just like the leaders in the very country I left? Jessica walked up to me, tugging my pant leg. I picked her up, and she hugged me with her stubby little arms. I shut my eyes and breathed out slowly and shakily through my nose, and when I opened them again, my mother had returned, holding a white t-shirt with a odd design and blue jeans, and wearing a dark backpack on her shoulders.

"These should fit her, they're Seon-hyang's spares." My mother said, bending down to look at the girl. "Let's move her to one of the bathrooms."

My mother and I reached down and with a mighty heave, we carried the sleeping girl, and the two former musicians supported her head. She wasn't very heavy, and we didn't have much of a struggle as we walked into one of the bathrooms. We propped her up on the dark sink counter, and I quickly patted her down for any weapons she could be carrying. I found nothing, and reached for the red pin flag pin tacked on her breast, the two Kim's faces gracing it. I untacked it, and carefully crushed it with my foot, before throwing the remaining pin in the trash. I averted my eyes as my mother undressed her of her uniform, which seemed to have 50 different components to it and slipped the t-shirt and jeans on. My mother rolled up Guk-hyang's uniform and stuffed it into her black backpack, and I looked over at Guk-hyang. The shirt did fit her well, and she looked more like a modern high schooler on the streets of Vancouver then an actual soldier now.

Shortly after she'd changed, I watched as Guk-hyang's face contorted, and her eyes slowly opened. She looked blearily at all of us, before looking down at her body and realizing what she was wearing.

"What?! You… ugh!" Guk-hyang shouted, before jolting back and hitting her head on the wall. My mother winced in pain as Guk-hyang rubbed the back of her head, a tearful expression on her face. My mother wrapped her arms around the young girl, who whimpered quietly and let my mom comfort her, and lead her out of the bathroom, Guk-hyang crying all the while. The three of us followed behind, watching with surprised expressions.

"How old is she?" I whispered to Seon-hyang, who was standing beside me.

"She's only 16." Seon-hyang said, and my eyes widened and mouth flew open. "I was the second oldest singer on the chorus."

"Well, how old are you?" I asked, a little more frantic.

"21."

"Oh." I said, a little less shocked. "You're only about one year older than me. Who was the oldest, then?"

"Captain Ji-na." Seon-hyang smiled, holding her hands tightly. "She's 25."

"Captain?" I asked, confused. "Do all of you have military ranks?"

"Yes, we did." Seon-hyang explained. "All of us were lieutenants."

"Hum." I said, rubbing my chin. "Then you had military training?"

"Yeah." Seon-hyang nodded, flexing her muscles with a smile. "But just the basics, how to shoot a gun, fitness stuff, and endurance training."

I gawked at the thought of a 16 year old Guk-hyang learning how to fire a gun or doing endurance training. It seemed absurd! When would a girl that young be needed for a firefight? It took me a few minutes to gather my bearings

"Still, that's a pretty big age gap." I noted. "So all of the musicians are young women… Yecch. That's pretty freaky."

"Freaky how?" Yeong-mi asked, looking very unimpressed.

"Well… Moranbong performances are watched by mostly military men, aren't they?" I explained. "And a lot of them are unmarried, and-"

"I get it." Yeong-mi said, interrupting me. "But there's groups like that in the South too, so isn't it not that different?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I said, looking down at the floor.

We walked out into the the hallway, Seon-hyang walking close by my side. Addy's eyes widened at Guk-hyang, who was gloomily looking back at him.

"Now she just looks like a mopey teenager." Addy says, before turning to me with a shit-eating grin. "Hey! She looks a lot like you did in 10th grade, except with shorter hair!"

"Oh fuck off." I groaned, and Addy giggled. Even though I was annoyed, it was nice to have him joking with me instead of holding a grudge or being cautious with his jokes. For once, it felt like my life was somewhat normal again.

I walked up to my dad and handed him Beom's pokeball, causing him to look up at me in confusion.

"That's the typhlosion Guk-hyang was using." I explained. "I looked through the data stored in it, and found it belonged to someone with a suspiciously similar name to Kim Jong-un, and I don't think it's well trained enough to be in her hands."

"Oh great." My dad said sarcastically. "He's got both nukes and poorly trained pokemon. Let's hope if you run into more of his lackeys, they've got the latter." I snorted.

"What time is it?" I asked, and my dad looked at his watch.

"12:04. Lunch break." My dad smiled, and I was suddenly hit with the feeling of hunger deep in the pit of my stomach. "Let's get something to eat, to take our minds off of all this." I grabbed Yifei's pokeball and retrieved her, placing it in my purse. Jessica cheered at the thought of eating, and hung around Seon-hyang's feet.

We began walking through the hallway, which seemed to agitate Guk-hyang further, her frown becoming tighter and her body language becoming stiff.

"Where are we going?" She barked at me, and I turned to look over at her. "Are you going to torture me?"

"Nope." Yeong-mi huffed, crossing her arms. "We're going to get lunch."

Guk-hyang said nothing more, but eyed me suspiciously. I rolled my eyes as we pushed the glass doors open, and walked out into the streets of Beijing. Guk-hyang winced at the loud noise, and clung to my mother with both arms, shaking violently.

"Just so you know, mom." I said over the street noise. "Where she's from, it's not usually this loud, and the crowds are minimal at best. I have earbuds if you need them."

My mother nodded in response, looking over at the frightened teenager. She was looking at everything with wide eyes glimmering with tears, and she was holding onto my mom's arm with white knuckles.

"There's a good Western place a little ways away." My dad said, looking on his phone. "You two feeling homesick?" Addy and I both nodded, me a little harder than him.

So, we began our walk through Beijing, towards 'Great Leap Brewing #45' in Chaoyang. I carried Jessica in my arms, worried that she'd dash off somewhere into Beijing and I'd lose her forever. She was pretty well behaved for most of it, but she did squeal angrily when she spotted a female trainer walking with her jigglypuff, causing a minor squabble between the two pink pokemon until both of us managed to calm them down. I quickly jogged away, not bothering to look back at the trainer's reaction.

"So…" I said to my dad, shortly after that incident. "What should we do with Guk-hyang? I think she prefers mom over me." I pointed over to a still shaking Guk-hyang, letting my mom coo to her and rub her head.

"I'm okay with taking care of her." My dad shrugged. "Its pretty lonely at home without you around, and I'm sure under all this State conditioning stuff, she's a good kid with a kind heart."

"I hope she is…" I said nervously. "I'll talk to her before you leave Beijing."

My dad frowned, and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't be too mean to her, alright?" He said, and I looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "You have to remember that she was probably taught that mixed race couples are immoral and filthy, and had no other evidence to disprove it. It's not like she's like that one lady in Florida, who could've learned otherwise anytime in her life. Just keep that in mind."

"The lady in Florida" was referring to an incident when we headed out said state to visit Disney World, and stopped in some dinky ass retro roadside diner called "The Red Fletchling" on the way. We had just spent 7 hours on a long ass flight, we were all practically starving to death, and I was 8 years old, so none of us were at our best. We'd sat down at a booth, and a few minutes later, a waitress told us that the manager refused to serve us because we were a interracial family. The manager came out, and both of my parents screamed at her for a good 15 minutes, before leaving the restaurant. I burst into tears when we reached the car, thinking it was all my fault that we didn't get food, and my parents got me McDonald's as a reward after calming me down. Overall, a very bad experience that made me particularly vocal when I felt I was being wronged because of my race.

"I know, she probably doesn't know any better…" I said gloomily. "Still hurts though." My dad rubbed my hair softly, and smiled at me.

"It'll be okay." My dad whispered, before spotting a sign for the restaurant ahead. "Oh, there it is!"

I retrieved Jessica and all of us walked into the small wooden door in front, into a kind of dull looking pub, wooden chairs and red tables. We were lead to our seats, and I performed an abridged reading of the menu to the four non English speakers. The menu was mostly pizza, which the North Koreans had some sort of idea of. They ordered mostly red sauce pizza, Seon-hyang and Joon-ho being very confused at the idea of a white sauce pizza, and I ordered a coke with my meal. We sat silently and waited for our meal, before Guk-hyang interrupted the silence from her spot next to my mother.

"I don't see the point in this place." She spat, loud enough that people across from our table were looking at us. "I can get all this in Pyongyang! You three are fools for wanting to leave the Motherland."

"Hush!" I hissed, holding two fingers up to my mouth. "Behave! This is a public restaurant!"

Guk-hyang scowled and grumbled under her breath, folding her arms across her chest. Now that her only weapon had been confiscated and her uniform removed, she resembled a petulant child more than a cunning soldier. I sniffed softly and drank some of my coke, before looking over at Seon-hyang, who was looking aimlessly around her. The TV was playing a pokemon match in South Korea, one of the many championships there, between a hydreigon and a granbull, both not appearing to budge.

"You alright?" I asked, and Seon-hyang looked over at me with wide eyes. She nodded. "You sure?"

"Yeah… I just…" She said, trying to gather her thoughts. "I'm just… confused. Why did Guk-hyang have a pokemon with her? We were taught that owning pokemon is immoral!"

"That's the million dollar question." I replied, before turning to Guk-hyang. "Why don't you explain that to us, Guk-hyang?"

"No." Guk-hyang said, turning away from us.

"Well, I guess we'll never know." I grinned, and shrugged. Seon-hyang just frowned angrily at Guk-hyang, who didn't bother to look at her. Some friendship they have...

The woman behind the bar counter changed the channel from the battle to some stupid show about a group of rednecks going into the deep woods of the United States to try and find Mewtwo, a supposed genetic experiment gone horribly wrong. I didn't know what to feel about the show, it was hilarious to see them overreact to the stupidest things, but I was worried that Seon-hyang or Yeong-mi would actually believe the show was real.

Thankfully, the woman working the counter didn't stay long on this show, flipping through channels. I saw a cooking show, some sitcom with a laugh track, a soccer game, and a music channel. The woman settled on the cooking show, which featured specific restaurants while being hosted by an American man with spiky blonde hair and kitschy shirts with fire designs on it. He was popular in Canada as well, and I recalled a rumor that the host had been a fire type gym leader. It seemed believable, to me at least. The four seemed entranced by the massive, almost comical amounts of food in these restaurants, and even Guk-hyang seemed somewhat impressed. Seon-hyang cringed whenever she saw the host on screen, and looked away frequently.

Between commercials of pokemon food and soft drinks, our pizzas arrived to the table, cut into 4 slices. I chowed down eagerly, almost getting burnt to a crisp brought quite the appetite to me, and the other seemed to enjoy it.

"It's better than the place in Pyongyang." Joon-ho says plainly between bites, to Addy and my parents. "Better sauce. No fruit."

"I would imagine." Addy snorts, before doing a double take. "Wait, _fruit?_ Like… Pineapple?"

"No, like orange slices."

" _No_." Addy said, dramatically holding a hand to his chest. "No fucking way."

"Orange slices." Joon-ho said, a smile gracing his face. "On pizza."

Addy looked devastated by this sudden information, staring off into space with a frown. Joon-ho chuckled, before returning to his meal.

After about 15 more minutes, everyone was done eating, we'd paid for our meal, and now we were back on the streets of Beijing. I swore I felt a pair of unfamiliar eyes as we walked, staring at me intensely as I walked away. However, no matter which way I looked, I couldn't find anyone staring at me, no one strange at all. It was probably my paranoia settling in, not helped by Guk-hyang's insinuation that there were more members after me, with the intent of ending my life. How long could I evade them for? A week? A month? Guk-hyang wasn't going to report our location, so I had some time to head to the first gym, wherever that was going to be, before they caught on to where we were. Hopefully, all of us would have pokemon that could battle by then…

When we reached the stadium, the group's had already dismissed to their hotel rooms to prepare for the opening ceremony at 3:30, just our luck. We decided to follow them, Addy wanting to nap and my parents deciding to buy Guk-hyang some nicer clothes.

I made a pit stop by a dumpster on the way back, cutting Guk-hyang's old uniform into unidentifiable shreds with my swiss army knife, burning some shreds with a lighter bought at a local mini mart and trashing others. After my work was done an hour later, I made my way back to the hotel room, where the others were waiting for me (Joon-ho had an extra key with him, just in case).

When I got back, everyone was asleep, Seon-hyang draped across the couch and Joon-ho curled up in his bed, everyone except for Yeong-mi, who was watching Friends with a tired look on her face.

"Hey." I said softly, conscious of everyone else. Yeong-mi glanced up at me.

"Hey." She repeated, and I walked over to a plush chair near her and sat down on it.

"Another marathon of Friends, huh?" I grinned.

"Mhm."

There was a period of silence between us as we watched the TV. The only noise was Joon-ho's snores, and the voices of Ross and Joey chattering angrily about girls.

"Did you know Guk-hyang?" I asked after this period of silence, and Yeong-mi looked over at me blearily. "Back there?"

"No." Yeong-mi said, frowning slightly. "The chorus had its own group of friends. The instruments had their own as well. We rarely talked outside of our own friend groups."

"Seon-hyang was the exception, then?" I said.

"Yeah." Yeong-mi nodded. "Seon-hyang and the band leader Cho Song-wol were the only singers I really got close to."

"Band leader?" I asked.

"Yes." Yeong-mi said, a small smile growing across her face. "She'd been a singer since I was little, and mentored me when I first joined, helping me through homesickness and stage fright. If she didn't help me back there, I'd probably would have gotten kicked out."

"Hum." I said. "Well, judging by what happened today, it might not be long before you see her again."

A laugh track played from the TV. Yeong-mi stayed silent.

"Aren't you scared?" She asked after a pause. "Guk-hyang attacked you with the sole intent of killing you! I'd be terrified, if I were you."

"I am." I said plainly. It was true, I was trying desperately to not think about the fact that I had 12-13 young women armed with fearsome untrained pokemon coming after me, with the sole intent of ending my life. It was pretty frightening to think I could lose one of these battles and get my friends and myself killed for it.

"Then why are you making jokes about it?" Yeong-mi asked, an incredulous look on her face.

Another laugh track. Something really funny had played while we were talking, because the laughter lasted longer than usual, the audience gasping and wheezing for air.

"I just… have to." I said softly. "It's just what I do. And besides, I don't want to scare you guys. I'm supposed to be a reliable leader."

"You don't have to always be a leader, Marie." Yeong-mi said, looking over at me. I swallowed painfully. "It's just us right now. Let it all out."

With that, I walked over to the bed, and Yeong-mi enveloped me in a tight hug, rubbing my back softly. I felt tears roll down my cheeks, and instead of bottling it all up, I let myself go. Yeong-mi cooed to me as I sobbed hysterically into her clothed shoulder. After 5 minutes of violent sobbing, I separated myself from Yeong-mi's embrace, head feeling woozy and stuffy.

"Thanks." I sighed, rubbing at my eyes.

"It's nothing." Yeong-mi smiled warmly, rubbing my shoulder. "Are you feeling alright now?"

"I feel a little better." I said after a pause, stretching my limbs out before catching a glint of something odd in the corner of my eye. "Sorry for bur- what the...?!"

The two of us jolted up from the bed to see the incubator by Joon-ho's bed glowing with light. He hadn't mentioned much about his egg to us, but when I looked at it last it had a few decent cracks, which led me to believe that the price my dad paid for it was cheaper because it was nearing its hatch date. I scrambled in a blind rush for my bag, shoveling through my stuff to find a spare pokeball to capture it in. Out of all the times that one of the eggs had to hatch, why did it have to be when I was completely unprepared and when I was at my most emotionally vulnerable? Seon-hyang stirred as I pulled out a spare pokeball, rubbing her eyes and pawing at her face. She looked at me with an incredulous look on her face, almost if asking me why I was still up.

"Whas' happenin'?" She asked sleepily, eyes blinking rapidly. I gestured towards the incubator, which was glowing in Yeong-mi's arms, and Seon-hyang scrambled to her feet. She shook Joon-ho awake, who jolted forward and spun his head around before fixing his eyes upon his incubator. Yeong-mi handed it to him, and he barely managed to fumble it open, and held the glowing egg in his arms until the glowing ceased.

After a few minutes of silence, I saw a little round orange head poke up from Joon-ho's arms, wide eyes blinking up at me, a little red scale on the top of his head. The little lizard pokemon reached over Joon-ho's shoulder and looked closer at me, making a soft squeaky noise.

I reached for my phone, and flipped to iDex.

"Scraggy, the shedding pokemon." It read. "Its skin has a rubbery elasticity, so it can reduce damage by defensively pulling its skin up to its neck."

"It's so cuuuuute!" Yeong-mi squealed, walking over towards it. The scraggy turned to face Yeong-mi, who kneeled down to wave at it. "Hiya little buddy!" She promptly got a hand to her face, but judging by her laughter, she wasn't hit too hard. Joon-ho was grinning ear to ear as he cradled the pokemon in his arms, who was trying to wrench his way out. I laughed a little before turning to the television clock, which read 2:30.

"Oh, the opening ceremony starts in 30 minutes." I said to myself, before turning to the three, handing Joon-ho the pokeball. "We should probably get dressed for the opening, and head out." They nodded in agreement.

I found myself in the bathroom, staring at the mirror as I applied makeup to my eyes with a black eye pencil I'd got sometime in Vancouver. I'd also changed from my casual get up into the sleeveless red dress my mother had got me, which reached to my ankles but was tight around my hips and waist. I'd managed to slip on my gold heels with some effort, and hobbled to and from the ends of the bathroom for a bit, trying my best not to fall. After a few more strokes of the pencil, I put it down and squinted at myself in the mirror. I thought I looked alright, the bags under my eyes were less visible, my hair brushed so it wasn't flung all over, and my eyebrows looked somewhat decent. I was about to walk over to the door, when it flung open, and Seon-hyang peeked through. When she looked over at me, her eyes went wide, and her face flushed a bright pink.

"Hey." I smiled, walking towards her. She drummed her fingers on the side of the wall softly, a tap-tap-tap.

"Hey." She echoed, walking closer. She had changed before me, and was wearing a long dark dress with short puffy sleeves, with white heels. She did her own make up, albeit with some suggestions from me, and her hair behind her ears. "The dress looks very nice on you."

"So does yours." I grinned, and Seon-hyang blushed harder. "You look very pretty."

"Thank you!" Seon-hyang chirped, posing for me. I walked towards her, before tripping and nearly falling face first. She grabbed me by the arms, and helped me to my feet again.

"Sorry," I said, looking away sheepishly. "Not too good with heels yet, hahaha…!" Seon-hyang just smiled, and helped me walk over to my bag. I gathered my pokeballs, before looking up at the Lees. Joon-ho wore a dark suit that he picked out himself, red tie tucked into his suit jacket, and Ggwek-ggwek and the scraggy playing together by his feet. Yeong-mi wore a similar pantsuit, and sat on the bed, watching TV. The two looked up at me, and we headed out the door.

The other students were loitering around the lobby, dressed up in fancy clothes, some with pokemon by their sides, some not. A girl held a snowy white vulpix in her arms, another boy had a elekid by his side, its hands on its hips. Addy was off to the side, leaning on the wall with his head down in a similar suit to Joon-ho, Bunie by his side. I walked over, and watched his head perk up as we approached him, and Bunie glowered at me.

"Hey, nice dress." He smiled, crossing his arms. I grinned back at him. "Your parents left already, they told me to tell you that they'll meet us there."

"Oh?" I said, rubbing my head. "Did they tell you why?"

"Nope." Addy said, and Bunie thumped her foot from beside him. "Just told me to tell you that they'll see you there."

"Hum." I said, not too worried. My dad was probably just preparing his speech or talking to some friends that had already arrived. "So, are you traveling with Conor or…?"

"Oh, you know it!" Addy grinned, showing off his phone. Upon the screen, was a contact named 'CONOR 3 3'. "Thanks for helping me!"

"Psh…" I shrugged his complement off with a grin. "I did nothing, you're the real charmer here!" The scraggy approached Bunie slowly, and the rabbit seemed to lighten up, and the two began chattering amongst themselves, squeaking and hissing.

"Oh, you're just so kind…!" Addy says, holding his hand over his heart in a dramatic fashion. "Don't flatter me like that! You're the one who brought us together!"

I was about to tell him that he was the one who made me set them up in the first place, before I saw Mr. Moreau approaching us with something in his hands. When he reached us, he handed out a ID badge hung on a black lanyard for all of us, but stopped at Joon-ho after he gave him his, who looked up expectantly.

"Thomas told me that you didn't have any sort of pokemon registering device for yourself." Mr. Moreau said, placing a dark red rectangular device in his hands. Joon-ho's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped. "Well, I decided that it was only fair that you started off on an even playing field compared to the other trainers, so I registered you as a trainer with the Worldwide Pokemon Database, and found a spare pokedex in my luggage for you to use."

"Thank you very much, sir." Joon-ho said breathlessly, a look of wonder on his face.

"You're welcome." Mr. Moreau smiled, before leaning in. "You've got two great trainers to learn from, so I think you're in good hands."

With a pat on the shoulder, Mr. Moreau was off, walking to the next group of kids. I watched him for a few minutes as he went from group to group, before turning to Joon-ho again. He was silent, looking at his new pokedex with tears running down his cheeks. He sniffled softly, rubbing at his eyes, and Yeong-mi and I placed our hands on his shoulders to comfort him.

"I'm an actual trainer, now…" Joon-ho muttered to himself shakily, as if he couldn't believe it. A smile grew on his face, and he started laughing.

"I'm an official pokemon trainer, Marie!" Joon-ho exclaimed, clapping his hands on my shoulders. I grinned at him, radiating in his joy. "T-this is… all I ever wanted…!"

He pulled me into a tight hug, and I swore my ribs were turned into dust. I could definitely tell from his arm strength that he'd been in the military for 2 years. After he released me, I coughed violently, wheezing air back into my lungs.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. I shrugged, and was about to tell him to not worry about it before Mr. Moreau cleared his throat, bringing my attention towards the front of the room.

"Well, now that we're all situated…" Mr. Moreau said, over the chatter of the other trainers. "The league opening for Beijing will start at 6pm! There will be dinner served at the Beijing National Stadium, and all representatives from all participating countries will be there!"

"You will be grouped together with other Canadian trainers, and I expect that all of you will behave like polite young adults!" Mr. Moreau continued, and I nodded. "You are not only representing Alexandria, but the country of Canada itself! Do you all understand?"

"Good." Mr. Moreau smirked after enough of us had nodded. "Then let's head off."

The Beijing National Stadium, or the "Niao chao" (bird's nest), which is what my cousin living in Macau called it for its interesting look, was a good 5-10 blocks away from the hotel. If I'd realized this earlier, I would've gotten some more comfortable shoes than the heels currently on my feet. Every step I made was a carefully concocted attempt to not fall face first on the streets of Beijing, and then having the paparazzi mob me and write an article claiming I had months to live.

Stumbling, we found ourselves in front of the Bird's Nest, which was an imposing steel oval shaped building, with steel shaped like branches surrounding it. Crowds of people were surrounding it, some looked like other trainers, some looked like paparazzi. I suddenly became hyper aware of the fact that any picture of Seon-hyang or Yeong-mi taken could lead to Pyongyang making their agenda public and getting my ass thrown in jail, We'd have to enter in different directions. I turned and tapped Addy on the shoulder, and he turned to me.

"Can you walk with these guys until we're in the building?" I asked. "I'm worried the paparazzi will swarm us and accidentally doom these three to deportation."

"No prob." Addy grinned, and I turned to the three others.

"Hey, can all of you guys head with Addy instead of me?" I asked, and Seon-hyang looked up at me in concern.

"Why?" She asked, clearly distraught.

"The people up front are probably going to take picture of me. If you're in a picture with me, Pyongyang could accuse me of being your 'kidnapper' and send me to jail and you back to North Korea." I explained, and Seon-hyang nodded in understanding. "If I didn't have to do it, I'd walk with you. And we'll be together in the building, not separated for the whole night."

"I understand." She smiled, patting me on the shoulder, and flashing me a thumbs up.

We went our separate ways, Addy and the others walking into an out of the way side entrance to my right, other trainers following them. I sighed, and reached for my pokeballs, sensing that the cameras up from wanted a good photo op. I released Varaha, who snorted and moved close to me, a gigantic grin on his face. As we approached the main entrance, the cameramen gasped and a sudden barrage of camera shutters filled the air. I smiled and waved at them, Varaha imitating me with much more vigor than me, as we slipped into the building. The interior was a stark white, with massive, almost tree shaped columns in the middle of the room. The room itself seemed almost completely vacant, except for me and Varaha. On one of these columns was a purple paper sign pasted on, reading "DINING HALL -" pointing left. I followed the sign, no one around to guide me further.

I was a little ways down before I felt a peculiar sense of dread and paranoia wash over me. I felt someone's eyes on me, peering at me like they wanted to say something to me. I brushed it off as just my nerves, no one was in the hallway with me! And besides, I'd hear them, right? I'd hear their breath, their footsteps, something signifying that they were there. So it was nothing! Everything was going to be jus-

"Marie Jones." A voice, a young, male this time, voice, said.

I whipped around to look a man about my age dead in the eyes. He didn't _look_ like one of them, just like a normal trainer here for the celebration, dark suit, dark glasses perched on his nose, and short dark hair, with wispy strands on his forehead. His face was round and almost childlike, but he held himself up with an air of importance. A hunched over, red dog pokemon hung by his side, it's bright red eyes gleaming at me and it's mouth wide with a grin. I groaned angrily, and internally got ready to order Varaha, before grasping for my phone.

"Lycanroc (Midnight Form), the wolf pokemon." iDex read off. "It goads its enemies into attacking, withstands the hits, and in return, delivers a headbutt, crushing their bones with its rocky mane."

"What?" I asked, and the man didn't move, but the lycanroc did, stepping closer to Varaha, who glared back.

"You are Marie, are you not?" He asked, adjusting his glasses.

"Yes, I am." I said, bracing for a gigantic, hammy speech about how I would be destroyed by his pokemon for the good of North Korea. However, this kid seemed somewhat… sane. Saner than Guk-hyang, at least. I reached for my purse just in case.

"Good." He said plainly. "I'm traveling with you."

What? Was I being pranked?

"E-Excuse me?" I asked, in a higher pitch. The man's expression didn't change, just blinked up at me. "What did you say?"

"I said, that I'm traveling with you." The man said, and his lycanroc sniffed at Varaha, who seemed very uncomfortable with this turn of events, as was I. "You seem like a worthy trainer to join."

"'Worthy'?" I echoed, my voice shaky. I had no idea what the fuck was going on, to be honest. Other than landing in North Korea and, yknow… being in North Korea, this was the single most bizarre moment of my adult life.

"Yes." He said, as his lycanroc licked Varaha's face, who seemed ready to retaliate. The man turned to his pokemon. "Rugaru! Behave! You're going to be traveling with this pignite for the rest of our journey, so you don't have to harass him right now!" Rugaru retreated, a sheepish look on its face.

My head felt faint. An entire journey with this guy, who was already being super mysterious with me? Was he serious?

"I… I have three traveling partners already." I said, rubbing my head. I had the beginnings of a migraine pounding in my skull. "I'm… uh.. really sorry and all that, but-"

"I know." He said, scratching at his nose, and my eyes widened in shock. "Jung Seon-hyang, Lee Yeong-mi, Lee Joon-ho. That doesn't matter, there is no limit to the amount of traveling partners, is there not?"

"I…" I gasped, before shutting my mouth. The man in front of me just smiled, a mysterious smile.

"We'll meet you at the Beijing Airport tomorrow, after your parents have left." He said, and Rugaru looked up at him in anticipation. "Ciao."

With that, the mysterious man waved at me with a smile, and walked down the hallway, red pokemon close by, and disappeared from sight.

"Varaha." I said, after five minutes of pure silence. "Please tell me that didn't just happen."

Varaha simply snorted, and stepped a little closer to my side.

* * *

 **historical notes:**

 **Beom - "tiger" in korean, a shortened version of typhlosion's korean name "Bleibeom"** **(블레이범), which translates roughly to "blaze tiger" (idk man)**

 **why guk-hyang keeps making potshots at marie's race: despite what some people may try to tell you, north korea isn't a left-wing dictatorship and it never has been, its a very nationalistic right wing state. this is because korea was colonized by japan, which brought their right wing, nationalistic ideals with them in order to gain loyalty. when the japanese empire collapsed, north korea kept almost all of that doctrine, and somehow made it worse. for example, the ussr always made sure to differentiate between the american capitalists and the american workers, and mostly left women and children out of their propaganda. however, in north korea, there are no such distinctions, every single american (and westerner for that matter!) is protrayed as innately evil and impure, and they make no distinction between women and children. kim il sung was reportedly not fond of mixed marriages, and in the 1990s, mixed korean-german families were forced apart because of this. now, north korean propaganda frequently uses mixed race couples in south korea as an example of the "pollution" caused by the americans. for further reading, i reccomend 'the cleanest race' by b r myers.**

 **beijing national stadium: stadium built for the 2008 olympics! if you've seen the opening ceremonies (who hasn't), it was the building where it all took place. mostly vacant now, but it still earns money from tourists.**

 **Rugaru - shortened version of the korean name for lycanroc "rugaruam" (루가루암) which is a combination of loup-garou (werewolf) and** **암 (am) which means rock.**

* * *

 **anywayyys, i've been busy with required testing and the sats! the sats were last saturday from 7 am to 1 pm, and i felt like i was losing my fucking mind! i hope i did well on them, because i never want to do that again!**

 **i hope you enjoyed this chapter, and i promise to bring you folks more cool stuff next chapter!**

 **please fav, follow and review if you enjoyed this chapter! seriously, i read all the reviews that i get (even though it doesnt seem like it lol), and i really do care that people enjoy my work!**

 **until next time!**

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby, unnamed - scraggy - m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **egg -unknown - unknown**


	14. You are the universe that I chose

**authors note:**

 **hey folks back on schedule again! i managed to finish most of this in one long 6 hour writing spree. pros are that it's done and i can work on other stuff for the month, cons are that my eyes hurt and im burning the candle at both ends. argg!**

 **anyways the chapter title is from bloom by gain! i hope you all enjoy...**

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Well, shaking that strange encounter off, I walked further into the Bird's Nest, lead by the crummy signs. The silence and lack of people around me allowed me to stew over what just happened to me.

How did that man know my partner's names? Who _was_ he? A son of a Chinese diplomat? No. If he was one, he would've talked to me in Chinese. He had addressed me in English, clean and almost unaccented, nothing major that could be used as a regional identifier. Was he schooled in America? England? How did he know my friend's names? Why did he choose to travel with me instead of someone else? Why me? Why? Why? _Why?_

I slide down the the bleached white columns of the Nest, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hands. Varaha looks up at me with concern lacing his eyes, dark ears flat against his skull. Peeking at him, I watch as he walks close and puts his paw on my knee, rubbing it softly. A smile grows weakly on my face.

"Why does all this weird stuff happen to me, huh?" I ask him, and his ears perk up.

Varaha shrugs his shoulders, before placing his hand on my knee again. I laugh and shake my head, and run my fingers through my hair, trying to adjust it. I'm deciding on whether to move my hair behind my ear or not, when two dress shoes clunk down in front of me. They are soon followed by four more pairs, and I sigh angrily.

"Who's the hot girl?" A male voice, with a irritatingly posh American accent. My eyes glance up, and I look over the man in front of me. He looks shockingly generic, so much so that it irritates the hell out of me. Pale, square face, baby blue eyes that always seemed to be wide, thin lips, and blonde, sideswept hair that reaches to his ears. I roll my eyes, and keep silent.

"Looks like one of the Chinese trainers." Another man says, from what I can see of him, he has dark hair and pale skin. However, the blonde's body is covering the other man's face and upper torso.

"You think she speaks English?"

"Probably not, that lady at the front couldn't speak it to save her life," The blonde laughs, before jumping off the deep end into full racism. "'We so happy to have you here for celebration."

It was very tempting to respond or tell them to scram, but I was silent, refusing to fall for their taunts. It was so typical, the broken English shit. And they were doing it even in fucking China! It was very tempting to start talking to them in Chinese and then mock their piss-poor attempt at the language. But, I don't want to get a reputation for being a hot head trainer with no control over my temper. And, as I look over their forms, I can see a luxury ball on each of the boy's waists, all black with a red band on the top of the capsule. Anyone who could shell out that kind of money for a fancy pokeball could probably sue me for damages if I break their nose. Another reason to stay silent, leaning against the pale column and rubbing my eyes.

"Hey," A pair of fingers snap by my ear, and I flinch, looking up at the blonde man, who is narrowing his eyes at me. Distantly, I hear Varaha stamping his foot in rage. "You speak English?"

I roll my eyes, and my mind is just starting to generate a snarky comeback, when I hear the voice of the one person who I didn't want to come save me.

"Leave her alone."

It's the mystery man, back again it seems, Rugaru snarling by his side, cracking its white, furry knuckles. The group of boys visibly step back, but I can see on their faces that they are not about to budge, staring angrily at the sudden intruder. I groan loudly, and shove my head into my hands, before looking up again.

"Why should we? Not our fault your girlfriend over here isn't answering us."

"That's because you're harassing her." He says, adjusting his glasses with his index finger. "So leave her alone."

"You wanna fight or something?" One of the men sneers, pulling out one of his pokeballs. With a flash of red, a sneasel lands on the concrete floor with a scratching of nails, and it snarls loudly. I watch Rugaru hunch over and growl back, fangs glinting visibly. No fucking way. They're seriously going to fight over me!? Doesn't this shit only happen in stupid romance movies? Whatever it was, it wasn't going to continue on my watch.

"Yifei!" I shouted in Chinese, releasing the bear pokemon. Yifei snorts, and looks at me with a curious expression, shoot in her mouth spinning somewhat. I point to the mystery man, who seems to engrossed in his petty little battle, crossing his arms with two fingers pushing his dark glasses up. "Pick him up and let's get out of here." The other boys have noticed the gigantic bear pokemon towering above them by now, backing away with shock written across their faces.

Yifei nods, and walks over to the mystery man, who is still not paying attention, even with Yifei's loud booming footsteps. With a heave, Yifei grabs the mystery man and slings him across her shoulder, ignoring his feet kicking her back as she lumbers away, Rugaru following, but not attempting to attack Yifei, just curious. Before I leave, I turn to the pack of stunned boys who were mocking me earlier, giving them the worst stare I can manage.

"See you at the ceremony." I grumble, and ran towards Yifei. As I round the corner into the next room, another gigantic hall with the same bleached walls and floors and organically round columns reaching to the ceiling, any humor or good feeling leaves me. I gestured to Yifei to put the mystery man down, and she sets him down on his feet very gently. The man immediately wobbles on his legs, and decides to sit down, an expression of confusion and shock on his face.

I take a deep breath in, rubbing the bridge of my nose between my thumb and index finger.

"The fuck was that all about?" I ask, crossing my arms. The mystery man blinks a few times in surprise, before frowning at me.

"What do you mean?" The man replies, brushing off his jacket. Rugaru bends down with him, sniffing at his face, before glancing at Varaha with a smile. The pig pokemon growls softly under his breath.

"You know what the fuck I'm talking about!" I yell angrily, stamping my foot. "Why'd you get involved my business, huh? And why'd you come back in the first place? Weren't we supposed to meet at the airport?"

"You were being harassed by those drooling pigs!" He shouts, visibly indignant. "You should be thanking me for standing up for you!"

"Are you crazy?" I retort, running my hands through my hair in a nervous tic. Varaha is glaring angrily at the two. "Did you see the pokeballs they had? Those were custom made pokeballs, which cost thousands of dollars, even millions! Imagine if you won, and they sued you for 'damages to their pokemon', man!"

The mystery man averts his eyes, deep in thought. I can see his jaw clench near painfully, and he fiddles with his hands. I sniff, before groaning in exhaustion and clasping my hands together.

"Listen," I lean in towards him, staring angrily at him. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, with your 'invading my life' shtick, but if you're going to travel with me, you're not going to be a fucking enigma. I don't look for that in guys, and it's not gonna make us friends. Who the hell are you?"

"Kim Sung-won." He hisses, and I nod, still frowning.

"Where are you from?"

"Macau. Like your mother."

"Alright, buster. Next question. Why me?"

"Well, you're the daughter of Thomas Jones!" Sung-won exclaims in a somewhat forced tone, a flash of light in his eyes. Rugaru is lapping away at his face. "Who wouldn't want to travel with you?"

I eye him with suspicion. Either he's clinically obsessed with me, or he has some sort of ulterior motives behind traveling with me. I'm betting on the latter. Still, I play along with his game.

"Stop holding me up on a pedestal." I snap, scrunching up my nose somewhat. "I'm not a genius, ace trainer who can find and successfully train mewtwo. You and I, we're not so different, in terms of skill level.

Sung-won's face tightens and mouth opens, as if he's about to say something to me, before he shuts his mouth quickly. Varaha glares at the red dog pokemon, who is approaching him again, a toothy smile on his face.

"I understand." He says softly, averting his eyes. He plays with the hem of his jacket worriedly.

"I'm not saying you can't travel with me, well, I still have to decide that... But if you do, you have to view me as a normal person, not the great Marie Jones, who can throw a knife into heaven and can kill with a stare! Alright?"

"Alright." Sung-won says, looking away awkwardly. He stands up, wobbling on his two legs, and Yifei steadies him with one of her gigantic paws. Sung-won nods up at Yifei, who just rolls her eyes, and steps away before I call out to him.

"Also, you're going to the ceremony with me." I bark, and his eyes go wide, and he stands still. "No ifs, no buts."

"What!?" Sung-won exclaims, looking taken aback. "Why?"

"Because I need to get to know you." I simply reply, and Sung-won groans and rolls his eyes.

Rummaging through my purse, I let Jessica out, who just looked up at me and grinned. My hand stopped at Nina's pokeball, and I debated with myself on letting her out. On one hand, everyone else's pokemon would be out, but on the other hand, Nina could get someone seriously sick. I didn't want that on my conscience, so I kept her in her pokeball, for now.

The two of us walk down the halls, Sung-won hunching over and sulking, and me still tripping over my shoes. I almost fall once, stumbling to the ground before Yifei manages to catch me.

"Thanks." I whisper, and Yifei nods, a hint of a smile on her face. Finally, I manage to hobble to the dining hall door, marked with another purple paper sign crudely put up. Gripping the copper handles, I retrieve Yifei after taking a good look at the door, heave it open, and peer inside.

The room is a bright white, with dark flooring and a large painting of the Chinese countryside hung on one of the walls, with a gilded frame. There are a long line of tables with a large arrays of food on plates or bowls, nothing I can see from the entrance. People of all sorts swarm around the table with paper plates in their hands, chattering amongst themselves, with their pokemon surrounding them. Music blasted through the hall, an old and familiar K-pop song playing loudly.

"'I'm not a little girl anymore,'" I sang along near silently, scanning the room for my friends, parents, and Guk-hyang. "'Don't hesitate any longer, as much as you've waited-'"

I was interrupted by Seon-hyang slamming herself into my ribs, ripping the air from my lungs. I wheeze painfully as the shorter girl pulls me into her embrace, snuggling into my chest. I realize too late that part of my chest is bare, as Seon-hyang rubs her face against said bare skin. She feels soft and smooth, not like a fabric but something entirely unique and wonderful, and her face has a gentle warmth to it, like clothes out of the dryer. Despite my attempts to resist my urges, I lean into her touch ever so subtly. I hear Jessica squeal excitedly through the blood swarming in my ears.

"Where were you?!" She exclaims, looking up at me with wide eyes. "We were waiting for you for so long!"

"I'm sorry," I say, ruffling her dark hair with the hand not busy holding her to my chest. "I got caught up in a big mess while walking here, so I couldn't come right away." Seon-hyang visibly flinches at the word 'mess'.

"Was it…" She asks, her eyes wide and face pale. "Another one?"

"No, no." I waved my hand, and Seon-hyang relaxed. "Just a bunch of idiots harassing me. No biggie."

"'No biggie,'" Seon-hyang repeats with a smile, before pointing at Sung-won. "Who's this?"

"This is Sung-won." I grin, and Sung-won does a little half bow to greet her. "He's from Macau, and might be joining us on our journey."

"Oh!" Seon-hyang says politely in English, with a hint of shyness. "Nice to meet you, I am Lee Junghwa."

"Nice to meet you as well," Sung-won smiles. "I think I'm gonna get some food from the tables up ahead, see you two later!"

We wave as Sung-won and his dog pokemon walk away, into the crowd of people, and I swear I see Varaha wiping his forehead in relief. Seon-hyang stays silent for a few minutes, before she whips her head towards me.

"What happened?" Seon-hyang asks in Korean, her eyebrows curved upwards. "How'd you meet him?"

"He just went up to me and told me he was going to travel with us!" I whisper urgently to her, making sure that we can't be overheard. "I have no idea what his deal is! And he knows your name, your real name!"

Seon-hyang's eyes widen, and she goes pale again. I card a hand through her hair and rub her scalp, trying to calm her down. Jessica wobbles over to her and looks up, a tearful expression upon her face.

"I-I don't think he's one of them, though." I say, narrowing my eyes and looking over at him. Sung-won is silently piling food onto his plate, other trainers staring intently at him. "He doesn't act like them. If he was one, he wouldn't have saved me from being harassed by a bunch of other delegates."

"So, what is he then?"

"Someone with ulterior motives. He's in this for something. God knows for what." I babble, rubbing my face with sweaty palms. "Don't tell the others, okay? I don't want to burden them with our suspicions. Just between you and me."

"Okay." Seon-hyang nods, and I catch a glint of, what I think is pride, in her expression. She tugs on my hand, and leads me forward, towards the buffet tables. As we get in line, white paper plates in hand, Seon-hyang turns to me, frowning.

"I don't know what half of this stuff is." She grumbles angrily, looking at a plate of what appeared to be a French cassoulet with tomatoes and sausages.

"Well, It's foods from other delegate's countries," I explain, putting some Peking duck on my plate. "A lot of them are very homesick right now."

"Are you?"

"Mmm, a little," I say absentmindedly. "Been too busy with all this to feel too homesick."

Seon-hyang frowns at me, before her eyes catch on a plate of bulgogi and lettuce, with a glass bowl of napa cabbage kimchi on the side. She eagerly scoops it onto her plate, humming happily to herself. I smile at her excitement, but deep down, a part of me wonders if she's excited because beef, or any meat rather, is still a treat to her.

After I grab a can of coke from a cooler underneath the last table, we walk over to my parents. My mother is smiling down at a hunched over Guk-hyang, watching the teenager chow down on what looked to be kung pao chicken. My father was grinning and chatting up a short, very familiar 30-or-so year old man dressed in a navy blue suit, tan skin and dark hair, with a pikachu perched on his shoulder. Standing by the man's side, is a pale young woman, dirty blonde hair to her round chin, dressed in a dark turtleneck dress. Seon-hyang instantly slinks her arm around mine as we walk forward, Varaha sniffing to himself.

"Finally, she arrives!" My dad crows, causing the Lee's (hidden behind my dad) and the others to turn to me. "What happened?"

"Some kids tried to battle me," I shrug, crossing my arms. "I managed to weasel my way out of it… Sorry for the wait."

"No problem kiddo," My dad waves me off, before turning to the man by his side, who smiles at me as my dad whacks him on the back. "Hey... don't you remember Satoshi?"

"I do!" I exclaim, and reach my hand out to shake his. His pikachu gives me a death glare, a slight hum of electricity coming from his cheek pads. "It's been forever since I've seen you! How's life been?"

"Oh it's been good, it's been good," Satoshi says, running his hands through his hair. He grins at me, tapping my chin. "You've gotten so big! You were only up to my knees when I last saw you!"

I giggle shyly, flushing a soft pink. Seon-hyang holds me tighter than before, and I follow her gaze to see her glaring at Sung-won, chatting up some girls. He's avoiding me. I turn away before I can overthink it.

"Are you going to challenge the Chinese league?" I ask, as Jessica clings to my leg, glaring at the pikachu.

"Nope! I already have my hands full in France," Satoshi grins, nudging the blonde woman with his elbow. "I'm done with professional training for now."

"Finally settling down, are you?" My dad joked, grinning wildly. "So, is this the lucky girl, huh? Congratulations!"

"Y'know, it's weird seeing the 15 year old snotty kid you traveled with grow up," My dad reminisces, holding his hand to his scruffy chin. He turns to Satoshi's girlfriend. "Is he still a little brat?"

His girlfriend laughs, but doesn't give an answer.

The two old friends laugh loudly and tell jokes from their time traveling together, but I'm too busy shoveling food into my mouth to care at this point. I feel eyes looking at me again, and I turn to spot Sung-won staring at me, with an uncomfortable intensity. I rub my neck and look away, trying to focus on something else. Guk-hyang is scowling at me, with dark eyes narrowed, Seon-hyang is happily chowing down on her dinner, my coke in her hand. Yeong-mi and Joon-ho look bored out of their skulls, Yeong-mi kneeling on the floor and Joon-ho leaning against the wall, and I slipped past my father to stand in front of them.

"Bored?" I ask, and Joon-ho nods, rubbing at his eyes. Ggwek-ggwek is sitting by his feet, sharing a biscuit with the little scraggy.

"How long until the opening ceremony?" Yeong-mi asks, rubbing at her eyes blearily.

"Another few minutes or so, I think." I reply, rubbing my chin thoughtfully.

Sure enough, as soon as I say that, one of the league officials, a short woman in her 30s with long dark hair, dressed in a bright white suit, gets our attention, and announces that the opening ceremonies will start very soon and we need to go to our dressing rooms right now to prepare for the Parade of Nations. I retrieve my pokemon and wave to my parents as the countries present form into groups. Another attendant, this time a younger man, leads us toward our dressing rooms, which is down a few floors. Out of the corner of my eye and through a window, I see Sung-won leaving the building, Rugaru by his side, and I frown.

When we reach the basement, the attendant leading us down turns to us and lays out the ground rules for the walk. No running, no intermingling between nations, and only one pokemon can be out per person. Pretty basic stuff. After that, we walk towards the dressing rooms, where another attendant informs me that they were only able to secure 3 dressing rooms for us, and that two of us will have to share. We all immediately agree that Seon-hyang and I will share rooms, and the woman hands us each our Team Canada uniforms. Seon-hyang actually seems excited about the arrangement as we walk into our room, smiling and holding my hand tight.

The dressing room is pretty small for one inside a former Olympic stadium, all light wood, with a large oval shaped mirror and desk. A magenta couch leans against one wall, and a mini fridge sits beside it, humming softly. Upon the desk are two pairs of red flats, one for the two of us I suppose. There's a radio on the ceiling, now playing "Hotel California" by the Eagles instead of K-Pop. I briefly wonder if there's music for each of the over 100 countries here, but shake it off. It's pointless. I step into the room and kick off my heels, sighing at the feeling of being able to walk again. Seon-hyang runs to the couch and curls up on it, removing her heels

After a five-minute struggle, I manage to to unhook my dress without assistance and slip out of it, the red fabric piling on the floor. I stare at it solemnly, thinking about how I wasted 20 minutes walking in uncomfortable shoes and a nice dress to have to change them in the end. I sighed and got myself dressed. After I was done, I peeked at myself in the mirror. The uniform was kind of nice, white shirt, dark pants, with a red blazer on top. After a little more preening, I felt somewhat satisfied by the way I was looking, and turned to face Seon-hyang. She had changed out of her dress while I was looking away, and was now staring at me with an interested look. Seon-hyang looked very attractive in the uniform, the red blazer giving her a very mature look, and I tried my best not to blush or look too obvious.

Suddenly, she smiles warmly, dark eyes crinkling.

"There's a maple leaf on your back!" Seon-hyang points, and I twist and turn to try to get a good look at it. I could barely see it, but it was white, the same one used on the Canadian flag. From what I can tell, "CANADA" is also written across the back in white. I pout sadly.

"I change out of my dress into a jacket practically advertising my home country," I say sadly, crossing my arms. "Fuckin' great."

"Aw come on!" She laughs, standing up and walking closer to me. "You still look cute, Marie…!"

"Thank you," I smile half-heartedly, and watch her stand up and walk closer. "I hope everyone else's wearing this uniform, or I'll look like a complete asshole."

"You don't look like an asshole," Seon-hyang walks closer to me, a soft smile on her face. "Trust me, you look very nice."

"Well, that's just you," I mumble, rustling my hair absentmindedly. "You're nice to me, 'cause you have to be…"

I feel Seon-hyang's hands touching my face, caressing my jawline gingerly with her fingertips. She looks at me with such intensity in her eyes that I feel my throat dry up, and I swallow painfully. My hands float awkwardly by my side, unsure of what to do next.

"I'm not telling you that because I have to," Seon-hyang whispers, moving closer to me, so close that our noses almost touch. "I'm telling you that because it's true. You're very handsome, Marie."

Intercutting our silence, a pattern of bass drum kicks, and then suddenly, 70s style synths start playing, strangely fitting. Strangely romantic. I'd thought about doing this so many times before, but now that I had the perfect opportunity to… now I could only recall how inexperienced I was.

I'd only kissed someone once before, at 13 years old, a stupid dare at a sleepover with a boy I liked at the time. He tasted like onions, and I regretted every second of it. Other than that, I had no real romantic experience.

Pretty pathetic for a 20 year old.

I rub my hands on my new pants, what felt like heavy amounts of sweat pooling on my palms. Before I could think over what to do next, Seon-hyang slowly and gently leans in with closed eyes, pressing her lips to mine.

Now, I've only been kissed two times before, so I might not be the best judge of kissing and kissing technique, so forgive me for generalizing. However, Seon-hyang was by far, the best person who's kissed me. Her lips were smooth, warm, and so, so, so soft that I wanted to melt into her. She moves her one of her hands down to my shoulders, bracing herself as she starts to move against me, and I'm too scared to mess up that, for a few moments, I don't do anything. However, instincts kick in after a few more seconds of standing still, and I wrap my hands around her face, kissing back in earnest. She doesn't taste like fruit or flowers, not like in the books, but she tastes sweet from the coke she was drinking earlier. I don't mind it.

Unfortunately, the bliss only lasts for a good 15 seconds, before there's a pounding at the door.

"MARIE JONES!" The attendant from earlier shouts from the other side of the door, punctuating her shouts with pounds on the the door. "THERE'S AN INTERVIEWER OUT HERE LOOKING FOR YOU!"

The two of us separate, panting somewhat. Surprisingly, Seon-hyang doesn't look very disheveled, her hair just slightly out of place. She looks at me with a concern written across her face, and opens her mouth to say something.

"Just an interview," I whisper to her, and she smiles again, eyes crinkled. "I'll be back."

Before I head out to meet this interviewer, I look into the mirror to see if my makeup has smudged at all. Thankfully most of it hasn't, although my hair looks messy, but that's minor at best. I hope my mother doesn't complain, or the interview isn't televised.

My hopes are dashed when I step outside, and spot two camera people, and an interviewer I feel like I know… The interviewer, a balding light skinned American man in his late 40's, potentially early 50s, wearing a grey suit, walks up to me. One of the camera people clips a microphone to me, and I straighten up, act if I wasn't just making out with a former North Korean soldier.

Briefly, as the crew sets up their cameras, I wonder what this interview will look like on TV. I imagine that my backstory will be told in video clips. A clip of my father battling the Miami gym as a young man, then the announcement of his retirement. Maybe that one clip of a 4 year old version of myself babbling excitedly about my favorite pokemon...

"So, Marie," The interviewer says, after all the equipment has been tested, and the recording has begun. "It's been a long while since I last interviewed you. If I recall correctly, you mainly talked about your favorite pokemon."

I laugh, the realization that he was the man that I had babbled to about pokemon suddenly hitting me. No wonder I recognized him. How funny.

I get asked the basic questions, if I'm excited about challenging the league, if my father's legacy wore me down as a kid, if I feel at home in China. I'm tempted to mention that most of my family was run out of China after the Cultural Revolution, but I swallow that remark in fears of causing a scandal. I mainly chatter about my pokemon, training, and how good it is to be here, finally following in my father's footsteps, while thinking about Seon-hyang's soft lips. Eventually, the interview ends, the interviewer leaves to go talk to some other delegates, and I slip back into my room.

Seon-hyang is curled up on the couch. As I shut the door, she jumps up and looks up at me with curious eyes, head resting on her hands.

"How was it?" She asks, and I make a half hearted gesture, causing her to smile.

"I hope you were nice to them."

"I was, I was," I said, walking closer to her. Seon-hyang smirks at me. "What? I really was nice!"

Seon-hyang just says nothing, smiling and pulling me by my hair back down into a kiss. We kiss for another few seconds, me practically bending over the couch, before another knock at the door shocks us apart.

"THE CEREMONY STARTS IN 5 MINUTES! GET TO YOUR SEATS _**NOW!**_ "

Seon-hyang pushes me off of her in surprise, and I nearly fall to the ground, catching myself before I break my skull on the floor. I'm helped to my feet by a regretful Seon-hyang, and I grab my purse and get Jessica's pokeball from it, before running out the door. The two of us hold hands as we are swallowed into the sea of trainers walking forward, and I spot Joon-ho and Yeong-mi walking ahead, talking amongst themselves and thankfully wearing the same uniforms as us. We speed up to walk beside them, and Joon-ho grins at the two of us.

"I'm so excited!" He whispers, and I laugh loudly, drowned out by the chatter of the other trainers.

As we walk out, I'm stuck by the sheer size of the Bird's nest. The stadium itself is gigantic, the brown floor fanning out in front of us as we walk forwards, covered mostly in stuff I can't decipher, possibly for the opening ceremony. On all sides, I can see people of all sorts filling almost every seat in the stadium, their chatter almost deafening to hear. I stand still for a moment, taking in every little minute detail in awe, before Seon-hyang tugs me away to our seats.

The seats provided to us are close to the ground, so we can get up and walk backstage when the Parade of Nations is called. Thankfully, this sits us within view of my parents and Guk-hyang, who's sitting primly, legs together and hands to her side, and I notice that my mother has put the younger girl in a long, dark wig. How did my mother manage to convince her to put it on? I snort at the thought of my mother wrestling Guk-hyang to place a itchy wig on her hair. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I assume. I wave to them, and while parents wave back enthusiastically, Guk-hyang just looks at me. I roll my eyes and turn to Seon-hyang.

"Was she like this before?"

"No," Seon-hyang sighs, shaking her head. I frown dejectedly. "She's usually pretty happy-go-lucky. I don't know what's with her today."

"Maybe she's jealous of me and you?" I suggest, grinning teasingly. Seon-hyang doesn't react in the way I think she would, by blushing and denying it. I think I watched too much anime to actually think that was a real way people would react. Instead, Seon-hyang rests her chin on her knuckle, face scrunched up in contemplation.

"Possibly," Seon-hyang says thoughtfully.

Before I can say anything, we are all shaken out of our thoughts by the sudden crackle of fireworks, from above us. I watch the orange sparks go around the circumference before fizzling out abruptly. The three North Koreans by my side stare at the scene in awe, and clap loudly when it's done. Then, our attention is brought to a large LCD screen towards the top, and I watch it begin its countdown, in both Chinese characters and Arabic numbers, and I shout them out along with the rest of the crowd.

 **十** **(10)**

 **九** **(9)**

 **八** **(8)**

 **七** **(7)**

 **六** **(6)**

 **五** **(5)**

 **四** **(4)**

 **三** **(3)**

 **二** **(2)**

 **一** **(1)**

There's suddenly a series of loud booms and fizzles as several sets of fireworks go off above us. The actual show is impossible to see from the inside, but the LCD screen shows a video of the Bird's Nest illuminated with pinks and purples and all sorts of colors. I look over to see Seon-hyang's awe struck expression as she looks at the screen, eyes wide and mouth hung slightly open. After this, a woman's voice begins to speak in French, before a man's voice reads in English:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, and the President of the Global Pokemon Federation, Michel Fournier!"

After the reading in Chinese, a loud cheer breaks out amongst the crowd, and there's a round of applause. After that, the fun begins.

The first event mainly documents the ancient Chinese's relationships with pokemon, using manually operated lighted tiles to show scenes of swanna flying, arcanines hunting with their owners, ursaring feasting on berries upon trees. I looked over the aisle to see Guk-hyang staring in shock and awe as the light show continues. If there was anything to introduce the girl to China, this was it.

After another event welcoming the visitors into Beijing concludes, I watch as a group of soldiers hold the 5 starred Chinese flag, and walk in perfect lockstep to the flag pole close to us, as a young girl sings a patriotic song that I only vaguely know the words to. As the flag is placed on the pole, the French woman starts talking again, and I watch my father stand up. The English version is soon read.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please stand for the Chinese national anthem."

I gesture for the three others to stand up with me, and I translate for them in a whisper. I look over to see my parents and Guk-hyang stand up primly. It's silent for a few seconds, before that all familiar bugel starts to play, and the singing starts.

"Arise! All who refuse to be slaves!

Let our flesh and blood become our new Great Wall!

As the Chinese nation faces its greatest peril,

All forcefully expend their last cries.

Arise! Arise! Arise!

Our million hearts beat as one,

Brave the enemy's fire, March on!

Brave the enemy's fire, March on!

March on! March on! On!"

I sing along, because I know if I don't, both the Chinese press and my extended family in Guangdong would scold me for being 'unpatriotic'. I'm not completely deafened by the sound in the theater, and I can hear Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi clumsily try to sing along, and I smile softly.

There's about 7 different events that play out before the gym list is played out, which makes it 9 before the Parade of Nations begins. However, I am completely riveted to my seat for all of them, completely starstruck. There were actors playing out the battle of Nezha and Ao Gong while suspended from the ceiling on wires. An abridged version of Journey of the West, the Chinese opera about an infernape, an emboar, a golem and a Buddhist priest journeying to get the Buddha's sutras, is acted out. I swear to god I cried out of sheer joy throughout it. It was the best 2 hours of my goddamn life, because it was _my culture!_ Being _celebrated!_ I'd been made fun for it for so long as a kid, that it felt liberating to actually see it without some dumbass 10 year old twisting it into a joke.

As I recover from all this, shaking in my seat, a hush falls over the crowd. The French lady speaks again, followed by the English man.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the official Gyms of the Chinese Pokemon League!"

There's a loud cheer, and I naturally join in. The Chinese is read off, before the screen lights up with the list.

1ST GYM

 **上海市** **\- SHANGHAI**

2nd GYM

 **成都市** **CHENGDU**

3rd GYM

 **宁波市** **NINGBO**

4th GYM

 **重庆市** **CHONGQING**

5th GYM

 **南京市** **NANJING**

6th GYM

 **乌鲁木齐市** **URUMQI**

7th GYM

 **天津市** **TIANJIN**

8th GYM

Pause for dramatic effect.

 **广州市** **GUANGZHOU**

Cheers from the crowd, and I clap along as I think over the cities presented. I'd expected Nanjing and Shanghai, those were pretty obvious places, with a high population already. But Urumqi? That was on the other side of China, towards Mongolia! They really _do_ want us to travel through _all_ of China… I rub my head with my sweaty palms.

As another event starts up after the cheering dies down, an attendant gathers all of us delegates and leads us down to the stage. I wave to my parents (and Guk-hyang), as I walk down the steps and they wave back in earnest. Guk-hyang acts like I didn't exist, her eyes focused to the stage. To be fair, she does have an excuse.

When we reach the backstage waiting area, Jessica walking by my side, we are seperated by country, and lined up in order of first to last in the Chinese language, the exclusion being Greece, which started the pokemon league tradition. This meant that Canada was 62nd in line, Ghana's 9 or so trainers were in front, Gabon's 4 or 5 in the back. I felt a little bad, because Canada's delegation numbered about 300, so it must've been intimidating for them.

One of the delegates from Ghana, a boy of about 15, with dark skin, a white suit, and a terrified look on his face, glances back at me, with a buizel standing by his side. I waved, and watch as he slowly smiles and waves back at me. I smile at him, before turning to a sulking Addy.

"Whats up?" I ask, eyebrows raised.

Addy sighs sadly, ruffling his dark hair. Bunie is by his side, bouncing impatiently.

"America is 139th! I can't talk to Conor now…" He complains, and Joon-ho looks over at him with an interested look. "Just my luck."

"It isn't your fault," I shrug, Jessica spinning around by my feet. "'United States of America' just has a ridiculous stroke count in the first character."

"Why couldn't it be shorter in Chinese!" Addy shouts, shaking his hands to the sky. I laugh loudly. "Damn you, Chinese language!

An official from the Canadian Trainer Organization comes and lines us all up, so we don't look like a total mess out there. Thankfully, I am both not the flag bearer, and not separated from my four friends. If I was made flag bearer, I'd probably get singled out as an example of 'nepotism' by people who didn't know any better, and if I was separated from the three North Koreans I'd probably have a violent panic attack. The flag bearer is instead a young man, about 18 years old, with long dark hair and tan skin. He seems very excited to hold the flag, visibly shaking as he swings it around.

While the other 61 countries walk ahead of us, with the intercom playing the announcement each time a country outside walks past ("Japon!" "Japan!" "日本!"), one of the other Canadian delegates, a young blonde lady with a squirtle clamoring on her shoulder, magically grabs a box of Uno from… somewhere, and passes it around to all the people there can be 6 cards for, me included. It quickly evolves from a fun way to pass the time, to an intense game where no one is safe from being backstabbed. I swear, I saw someone's friendship literally end right there. After a few rounds, in which I've been made an absolute fool of myself more than once, Seon-hyang crawls up to me to where I'm kneeling on the floor. I don't notice her until her lips are directly by my ear, and she's talking to me.

"Listen. If you use your 'pick two' card right now, you could finally win this."

"Huh?" I whispered, after shuddering at the feeling of her breath so close to my ears. "How?"

She gestures to three of the cards in my deck. I have a yellow pick two, a normal yellow card, then a wild card, and then two green. She was right! I wait my turn (of course), in which both no one wins or lands a 'pick two', and then I play my hand.

The reaction is swift, with people immediately reeling backward in shock and shouting curses, and Addy is glowering at me.

"That was evil!" Addy yelled at me, pointing straight at me, before making a cross with his fingers. "Evil! Evil! You're a demon! A DEMON!"

I laugh hysterically, Seon-hyang giggling with me. I'm about to say something before I hear something over the intercom.

"Ghana!"

"加纳!"

I stood up at that announcement, before I bent back down and helped put the cards away. All of us Canadian delegates followed the flag bearer out of the backstage and into the chattering of the crowds as we walked out into the stadium, Jessica and Seon-hyang on both sides of me. I wave with both of my hands, no one in the crowd looking particularly recognizable. Jessica mimics me, humming loudly and happily as she skips forward. I'm not sure what it is, but the announcers sound very triumphant when saying our country:

"Canada!"

"加拿大!"

The chatter evolves into a full on roar now, ringing in my ears. I'm smiling so hard my face feels like it's about to split apart, and a feeling of pride unfurls in my heart. I look over at Joon-ho to see that he's grinning intensely too, with a warm look in his eyes as Ggwek-ggwek walks beside him, hopping up and down slightly and swinging his arms to and fro. I briefly wonder what he's thinking, he looks happier than he did back in Pyongyang. He's probably ecstatic about his new lease on life, doing the thing he wants to do the most. I reach over to him, and rub his shoulder, lightly patting it. I get a smile in return.

We make it to the spot inside the center of the room where all of the other nation's delegates are gathered. I sit down and twiddle my thumbs, waiting for all the other nations to arrive. Which takes another hour and a half. I swear to god, I almost fell asleep sitting up 5 (or not thankfully), the pain in my upper back forced me to stay awake, along with Jessica slapping my face.

Around Australia, I feel a question bubble under my skin, and I itch it by speaking up.

"Seon-hyang." I whisper lowly, and the girl turns towards me.

"Yeah?"

"How'd you know how to play UNO?"

"Well," Seon-hyang smiled. "Once you watch a certain someone lose 4 times, you kind of learn what's going on."

"Hey!" I shout in mock offense, holding a hand up to my chest. "Losing is the first step to winning, alright?"

Seon-hyang laughs loudly, her nose crinkled cutely. The final country is called.

"République populaire de Chine!"

"People's Republic of China!"

"中国!"

The Chinese delegates file in, and I can feel the ecstatic energy flowing off of them. I can understand why, this was _their_ league! Finally, after years of having to train in Japan or South Korea, and attempt the league there, they had one of their own to challenge. I grin happily, turn and wave to the incoming delegates, some of whom wave back. The french woman talks again, and after a minute…

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the Global Pokemon Federation, Michel Forteau!"

I wait eagerly as the GPF officials pile on stage, and I spot my parents with Guk-hyang, who looks very nervous. My mother is holding her hand, and I briefly wonder why the took her on stage. I can picture the headlines now "Is the girl beside Thomas Jones his SECRET DAUGHTER!?"

Hopefully they'll be in Canada by the time they'll be asked those questions… Monsieur Forteau (as he made me call him when I was little) is talking, an older man with cropped salt and pepper hair who might have been a trainer in his prime, talking about battling fairly without using steroids. Or whatever.

My thoughts were interrupted by Jessica squeaking at me, before I feel the scratch of her claws on my face, and her foot on my collarbone.

"Ow! Not here!" I scold her, and she pouts, about to cry. "If you do that again, I won't keep you out."

My clefairy sulks, arms crossed and looking away from me. After a few moments, I take pity on her, and pick her up and hold her up weakly. She perks up immediately, and waves at my dad, trying to get his attention. I roll my eyes, and watch as my dad walks up on stage. French, then…

"Ladies and gentlemen, former Global Pokemon Federation representative, Thomas Jones!"

There's a roar of applause and cheers, some from the three by my side, some from the crowd, some probably from Jessica. Slowly, the crowd calms.

"My fellow trainers," My dad starts, placing both of his hands upon the podium. "Today is probably going to be one of the greatest moments in your life."

"When I left my home in Alexandria island on a boat in 1980, I did not know that I was going to be the one to break the Miami Gym's winning streak. I didn't expect to be enriched by my experiences traveling across an entire country. And I did not expect to meet the woman who would change my life forever."

I look over to see my mom smiling warmly as my father continues his talk, and I feel a surge of embarrassment. I rub my red face with my arm.

"That's the wonder of your journey," My father smiles upon the crowd. "Your journey will lead all of you to different places, force you out of your bubble to encounter new people that you may have never been able to meet before!"

"For many years, China and the Chinese people have not had that privilege that I grew up having. To be able to join their friends across the world in training their pokemon."

"But now, all of the people in China have the chance to travel their majestic country, traveling with their pokemon like all others can! And with that, a new set of possibilities open themselves, that is all yours to take hold of."

"I now have the honor of asking the president of the People's Republic of China to open the Official Chinese Pokemon League!"

There is loud cheering and clapping, and then silence. Jessica waves wildly to my father, who waves a little back. There is silence as Xi Jinping stands up, and steps closer to the microphone, speaking in Mandarin.

"I now pronounce the Official Chinese Pokemon League… open!"

The crowd goes wild.

* * *

 **notes:**

 **kpop song - adult ceremony (or coming of age ceremony) by park ji yoon**

 **the two songs performed at the opening ceremony:**

 **ode to the motherland created around 1951, considered to be china's secondary national anthem, written by wang xin.**

 **volunteer's march: created during japanese occupation in 1934, china's actual national anthem. the creator, tian han, was imprisoned during the cultural revolution and died there.**

 **chinese opera: so china has a very unique way of protraying opera, much different the opera in the west. it mainly involves a lot of make up, fancy and gigantic outfits, and a lot of singing. journey to the west (described in the text) is one of the more popular ones, and you might have seen a certain adaptation _with a monkey alien named goku..._**

* * *

 **so the chinese league finally opens after 13 chapters! its been a long while, but it feels good to have this part off of my chest. i struggled intensely to visualize and then write this scene, and i had to watch the beijing opening ceremonies around 50 times to capture it.**

 **also marie and seon-hyang finally kissed! i originally intended them to kiss much later (around shanghai-ish), but i felt that there has been enough time bringing them together that they could do it! i was honestly expecting more backlash for having a lesbian romance in my pokemon story, but thanks for proving me wrong i guess!**

 **i hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!**

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby, unnamed - scraggy - m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **egg -unknown - unknown**


	15. EXTRA CHAPTER: Making a different face

**authors note:**

 **hey! school's ended and i have free time, so i decided to write another extra chapter, this time for yeong-mi. other than this, my monthly schedule will continue as planned...**

 **this chapter takes place during the events of chapter 4!**

 **the title is from "twenty three (스물셋)" by IU**

 **enjoy!**

* * *

"Alright, that's it for the day, comrades!"

Yeong-mi sighs in exhaustion, and lies her head on her drum set with a soft noise. Her arms ache from the intense drumming she'd been doing for the past 3 hours, and her mind buzzes with numbness and static. She feels clammy sweat drip down her face, curving down her thin nose and round lips and dribbling onto the floor. Sweat presses her dark boyish hair to her forehead, and Yeong-mi paws at her flushed face to get her hair back into order.

They had been going through the band's entire set today, for a future concert celebrating the successful test of a mid-range missile. Song-wol songsaenim had been extremely tough on them today, one of the younger singers had messed up her lines multiple times, forcing them to restart again and again. To say Song-wol songsaenim was pissed was an understatement. Each time, she seemed to lose more and more patience, and Yeong-mi had watched with anxiety as the older woman's jaw tightened and her warm eyes darkened, as she watched the practice with the other staff members. Eventually, after about the fifth time, one of the older directors, a uptight woman of about 40, marched over to the girl and slapped her upside the head in one swoop. The slap echoed across the gigantic hall they practiced in, and Yeong-mi and the other girls flinched in pain, as if they were slapped themselves.

After that, no one messed up their lines. Everything went to plan.

Through her bangs, she can see the strings players stretching and chattering amongst themselves. Seon-hyang was practically chugging her water, skin shiny with sweat. All of them are wearing their white stage uniforms, a military shirt with red and blue tassels and golden buttons, a skirt that only reaches to their knees, and silver heels. On top of every girl's head is a little white hat with a golden Party insignia on it.

No differences were to be permitted.

It was to show the unity of the Korean people, the Respected General had decreed. He had created this band with his own two hands, lost sleep as he decided who should go in and what songs should be performed for each of their concerts.

Yeong-mi's eyes water at the thought of the General's hard work for her, how he works to keep all of his people safe from the American imperialists, who are working as hard as ever to destroy their beautiful country. That's why she must perform, to rally her people against them and save Ko-

"Good work, Comrade Yeong-mi!" Song-wol songsaenim smiles, as she walks over to the resting girl. Unlike the other girls, her hair reaches to her shoulders, and she's wearing a olive green military uniform with pants. Yeong-mi looks up at the band leader, and beams. "You have made me very proud today. I think I understand why the General chose you out of all those other girls."

"Oh…!" Yeong-mi exclaims, looking away bashfully. "T-Thank you very much, songsaenim…"

"You're welcome," she smiles, before turning and walking off of the stage and through a door to the side. Yeong-mi's smile falters as she stands up, following the other girls to their dressing room. Song-wol songsaenim really is the only higher up that complements her drumming now, the rest either say nothing or scream at her to improve.

When she'd first gotten in three years ago, people had complimented her left and right for her stamina, she'd never faltered during their 2 hour concerts, even when she had no water. The General himself had smiled at her after one performance, and his eyes had twinkled as he told her how proud he was of her, and Yeong-mi had cried tears of joy at that remark. But, as the years passed, compliments came less and less, until only the band paid attention to her.

Yeong-mi knows what comes next. After the next performance, if she can't prove her importance to Moranbong as a whole, she'll be let go, and then they will replace her with a younger, prettier drummer from the army. After that, she'll either marry someone she doesn't really care about, or die of grief. She's leaning towards the latter.

She'd seen other girls get forced out, singers and musicians alike pulled aside after concerts. Yeong-mi remembered watching them walk away, faces covered by their hands as they cried. It had been gradual for them as well, like the evil pokemon that creeped in the horror stories told by other girls as they huddled around a gas heater. Compliments wore away, and left behind a sense of dread that grew day by day, until you were fired. They wanted you to suffer.

Her removal is practically certain now, and despite her best attempts to take it in stride, she can't help but feel bitter about it. Yeong-mi is not suddenly becoming a dead weight in concerts, unable to play new songs, she's growing _old._ They always say that it's a lack of skill, but it isn't! It's the audience not thinking you're pretty enough at twenty three, enough to keep them coming back, so they fucking replace you with some dumb sixteen year old _bitch_ who can fill the uniform out better than you can! And the worst part is that _no one will miss her._ They'll all forget that she was a member of the band, like with the singer Sol-mi and the bass guitarist Yoon-hi. Even Seon-hyang, her dearest friend, won't remember her. She feels tears burn at the edges of her eyes, and she wipes them away, hoping no one notices as she opens the door to the dressing room.

The other girls glance at her as she walks in, clustering together as they strip and chatter amongst their groups, but they say nothing to her, offer no questions about her wellbeing or try to comfort her. Yeong-mi feels a nauseous mix of rage and relief that no one says anything to her, and she silently undresses. Yeong-mi can't wear casual clothing, except for Chuseok and similar holidays, so she wears her uniform, almost identical to Song-wol songsaenim's, the only difference being the stars on her shoulders, Yeong-mi only has two stars, while Song-wol has five. She gloomily fixes up her uniform, before someone's voice gets her attention.

"Hey, Yeong-mi!"

Yeong-mi flits her head around to face one of the guitarists, Un-ha, her round eyes looking up at her with a cheeky smile. Surrounding her are two members, a violinist and one of the synth players, who are either changing or looking right at the drummer, eyes going straight through her.

"Huh?" Yeong-mi says, ruffling her short hair.

"You didn't tell us that your cousin was seeing someone!" Un-ha chirps, and Yeong-mi's face contorts in confusion.

"Excuse me?" she asks, fixing her dark green tie. Seon-hyang peeks over from the corner, looking just as confused as she is. The younger singer from earlier is by her side, looking very curious.

"Well, Comrade Ha-joon says that he saw Joon-ho leading a woman into the barracks last night," the guitarist explains, and Yeong-mi frowns. "Said she looked like a civilian, but was suuuuuper tall! Like a tree, he said! Guess he has a thing for tall girls, hm?"

"I guess." Yeong-mi whispers, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She doesn't know what to think about that. It's nearly impossible to think about her dorky cousin from the countryside being intimate with a woman, especially in the barracks where everyone could overhear them. She can't even picture him as an adult, only as a 11 year old boy playing with the wurmple he caught. It leaves her with a bad taste in her mouth, almost like bile.

Yeong-mi stays silent for the rest of their time spent in the dressing room, mulling over the possibility of being an aunt somehow. She rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands, nearly wanting to start crying in front of everyone in the room. Everything frustrating seems to be crawling into her life today, and she's just _so tired_. Angrily, she hopes that the higher ups fire her soon, because she's tiring of having the possibility hanging over her like an axe.

Her misery thankfully ends when Seon-hyang gets her attention.

"Unnie," she says, smiling in front of the older woman. "Do you want to walk together?"

Yeong-mi can't help herself, Seon-hyang's almost innocent joy is so infectious that she grins up at the girl.

"Of course." Yeong-mi hums, and follows the younger girl.

Seon-hyang was one of the first singers to be chosen for Moranbong back when it first began, so technically she's Yeong-mi's superior. However, not only is the singer two years younger than her, Seon-hyang is also an orphan with little life experience, and very naive. The other members of the band treat her like their own daughter, and she seems to enjoy the special treatment. At least, that's what Yeong-mi thinks. An angry voice in her head remarks on how lucky Seon-hyang is, that she has at least two more years before she's out of the group. Yeong-mi swats that little voice away.

She shouldn't be bitter about the gifts she's been given.

The two girls step out of the theater, Seon-hyang lacing her fingers with Yeong-mi's. Pyongyang is noticeably quiet, snow from the day before blanketing the city. People in large woolen coats shovel snow off of the sidewalks and towards the sides of roads in large grey piles. Children dash around in thick bright coats, chattering and laughing as the lob snowballs at each other. Yeong-mi smiles at their carefree nature, and briefly wishes that she took advantage of that when she still could.

"So," Seon-hyang smiles, breaking Yeong-mi out of her thoughts. "Are you excited about the concert?"

The concert. Yeong-mi tries her best to keep her smile, but she feels it falter.

"Oh, of course," she says, noticing how her voice shakes. "The General will be there, won't he?"

Yeong-mi wishes desperately to tell Seon-hyang her worries. That she'll be gone after the concert because she isn't a teenager anymore. That everyone will forget about the things she's done for the band. But she can't, because there's always the chance that Seon-hyang or someone who overhears them will blab to the authorities, and then a charge of 'disobedience to the state', and then… Hard labor? _Death?_ Blindly, she hopes that the General will take pity upon her, and retain her in the group.

"Yes!" Seon-hyang cheers, dancing somewhat. "I can't wait to perform in front of him, I've been practicing really hard this time!"

"Don't you practice hard every time?" the drummer notes, and Seon-hyang pouts cutely.

"Yes, but I've been working two times as hard! Three times as hard! Even four times as hard!"

"You'll be able to sing perfectly in your sleep at this point," Yeong-mi notes, running a hand through her hair. "Maybe you can even sing the whole concert.

Seon-hyang grins excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other.

"There's still songs I don't know, though!"

The two chatter about possible songs that they might be playing in future concerts, before the familiar grey building of the army barracks. The two seperate when the reach the lobby, Yeong-mi's room closer to the stairway than hers, and Yeong-mi watches her walk up the dark wooden stairs with a sad smile. Yeong-mi is about to head off to her own room, maybe to watch some TV or cry in the comfort of her own dorm, before she spots Joon-ho. Her cousin reaches to her nose, and is dressed in a very similar uniform to hers, with his hair in a buzz cut. He's leaning against the wall by the door, picking at the dirt underneath his fingernails. He looks up, locks eyes with Yeong-mi, and grins.

"Yeong-mi!" her cousin exclaims as if he's glad to see her, before taking a breath in and assuming a serious expression. "...We need to discuss something." He beckons her forth.

The drummer blinks in shock, before nodding and following him. He walks up the stairs, towards Seon-hyang's dorm room. Is this about the woman? Will Joon-ho tell her that he's going to marry her? Yeong-mi feels a pang of anticipation run through her as Joon-ho walks a few paces down the hallway, stops, and turns around to face the girl. She eagerly watches his face as his lips move and he says near silently:

"I'm leaving Korea tonight."

It feels like a cinder block has flung itself into Yeong-mi's stomach, and she nearly bowls over onto the floor in shock. Leave Korea? That was impossible! The two of them have everything here, and Joon-ho wants to scorn it all for…? What?

"What?" Yeong-mi exclaims, her voice high. Joon-ho shushes her, shaking somewhat.

"I'm leaving Korea," Joon-ho repeats, and Yeong-mi covers her face with her hands. "I'm heading into China."

"What? How?"

"I'll cross the Yalu river to the north," Joon-ho says, and Yeong-mi feels an air of excitement around him, as if he alway wanted to do this. "It'll be easy, the river's frozen this time of month."

There's a pause between them, as Yeong-mi slowly but surely gathers her bearings. Shock replaces itself with rage, rage at Joon-ho for betraying the leader who let Yeong-mi get her job as a drummer, and protects their country from the impurity of the outside world. And now Joon-ho wants to join them? Become filthy like them?

(Secretly, a part of her is glad he's defecting. If she goes with him, she can spare herself the humiliation of being let go. She'll be in control of her destiny for once.

However, she swallows that joy.)

"W-What's leading you to defect…?" Yeong-mi growls through grit teeth. Joon-ho doesn't react, merely pulls out a picture from his coat pocket, and shows it to Yeong-mi.

It's a creased newspaper photograph of a pokemon battle, the kind the imperialists had in their country when it was colonized. An American jackal battled with a large pig pokemon, against a large monkey pokemon that appeared to be on fire.

Rage bubbles underneath her skin as she hands the photograph back. Yeong-mi hisses out a breath, before beginning to speak:

"I can't believe you, Joon-ho. You're seriously willing to defect, put our whole family at risk, for some stupid picture?" she yells, running her hands through her hair. "I thought you were better than this, I thought you wouldn't be seduced by the imperialists!"

"I haven't been 'seduced', I've opened my eyes!" he snaps loudly, scowling at her. He steps back, and breathes out, before continuing in a softer tone. "You've never been up far north, you've never seen the stuff I've seen in the villages up there."

"There's no hope in this country, our best chance is to go to China, find a way to Thailand or South Korea, and I'll find a job for the both of us."

"You're crazy, Joon-ho," Yeong-mi laughs, pawing at her face. "You've lost your mind since I last saw you! You used to be so obedient to the Party, and now look at you! Comrade Kim Jong Un has provided so much for you, for us, and you're willing to throw it all away to go down _there_?"

" **Comrade!?** " Joon-ho exclaims, causing Yeong-mi to jump in shock at his volume. "You remember what he did with his uncle, right? You watched him mow down members of Unhasu Orchestra, right? How can you call that _monster_ your comrade?"

"Because he-"

"What? He made you famous? He gave you money?" he taunts, and Yeong-mi steps forward, ready to punch him. "He didn't tie you up and blow you up with anti-aircraft fire?"

"You're just the Moranbong drummer to him, and when you're not willing to be the drummer anymore, you're nothing to him."

Before Yeong-mi can fire back with another round of insults, she hears the door slam open. She turns, and then she's face to face with the woman, the subject of the rumors from earlier.

The woman towers over the two of them and looks Korean, but has a distinctly foreign air to her. Her dark hair is wavy and unkempt, and it reaches to her lower neck. Strands of dark hair curve around her oval shaped face, and her large dark eyes glare at her in annoyance and shock. She's dressed in a dark shirt, tucked into dark pants, almost as if she's a shadow. In her arms, she carries a large, pink looking object, which soon reveals itself to be alive and a pokemon, as it turns around to look at the drummer in fear with its dark eyes, before turning away.

Her brother was both a traitor and a spy, traveling with a woman who had a pokemon…! Only imperialists own pokemon…! How could her own cousin do such a thing? No matter, she was going to end this right here, right now.

"You…!" Yeong-mi sneers, and she watches as the girl backs away, fear in her eyes. "You've seduced Joon-ho into a life of capitalism…! How dare you, you Yankee bi-"

Yeong-mi feels Joon-ho's hands grip her arms as he holds her back from attacking the imperialist, who backs away a step. She struggles in his grip, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't let go.

"I told you not to unlock the door at all costs!" he shouts to the woman, who frowns at him, eyes narrowing. With a kick, he slams the door behind them.

"You scared Jessica and woke me up with your fighting, and you two were going too far!" the woman exclaims at a lower volume, and Yeong-mi notices her southern accent. So she is an imperialist Yank. "Anyone could have walked into you talking about Kim Jong Un like that, and then had you executed!"

"It was a family discussion, Marie!" Joon-ho shouts back, stamping his foot.

"It doesn't matter! We need to explain this to her in a calm, civilized manner. Shouting will get us nowhere in this," the woman says calmly, as Yeong-mi whips her head around in an attempt to bite Joon-ho's wrists. "Let's start this over."

Joon-ho sits Yeong-mi down on the wooden floor, and the woman's eyes flit around her. The woman is staying in a storage closet, bookcases surrounding them. It's a wonder to Yeong-mi that the imperialist hasn't been caught yet. A mattress lies at the end of the room, next to a large dark backpack. She watches the woman kneel down in front of her, smiling cautiously.

"Hello, Miss…"

"Lee Yeong-mi." she hisses, and she swears she hears Joon-ho sigh out of his nose.

"Miss Yeong-mi. I'm Marie Jones." Marie continues, either uncaring or oblivious to the drummer's rage. "It's my pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Yeong-mi's nose wrinkles at the name. Typical jackal name, almost too typical. Almost sounds... fake.

"So you are a Yank." Yeong-mi snorts, and she feels Joon-ho's glare on her back.

"No, I'm not a 'Yank'. If you would listen to my story with a open mind, maybe you would find that me and you aren't so different after all." Marie forces a smile, and Yeong-mi can see her slightly shake, as if she's trying to hold herself together. The pink thing in her arms shudders.

"Would you mind that?"

"I don't have much of a choice." Yeong-mi sniffs, and she watches Marie take a deep breath in, and she recounts her story.

Marie was headed to south Korea on a small boat in an attempt to complete a 'pokemon journey' there. While she rode on her boat, she accidentally fell into a deep sleep, and crossed the maritime border of south Korea and the north. When the woman woke up from her slumber, she found herself in Nampo, with no idea how to leave, and fear that she would be executed for a mere accident. So, she walked to Pyongyang in a futile attempt to return to her home country. However, the embassy wouldn't take her, so she decided to walk north, until she reached the Yalu river in China, where she had a visa to 'train'. On the way there, she met Joon-ho, who decided to go with her, and house her for the night, which led her to this very bunker.

Yeong-mi blinks rapidly as Marie finishes her story. She's a mess of emotions. Part of her wants to turn Marie for espionage, but part of her believes that Marie is innocent, and another part wants to travel with the two. As those emotions swirl painfully in her, she subconsciously asks a question mulling about in her head.

"How do I know you aren't an American spy?"

Marie breathes in and out, straightening up, before reaching for her bag. The woman rummages through her things before giving her a passport. Yeong-mi squints at it as she flips through it, waiting for some sort of writing reading "MARIE JONES IS TOTALLY NOT A SPY FOR AMERICA, THANK YOU", but it never comes. Instead, she's met with a picture of a younger version of Marie, with short hair to her ears. Yeong-mi suppresses a laugh before handing the passport over to Marie.

"I can't read English." Yeong-mi says simply, and watches a brief flash of rage come over Marie's face, before calm takes over.

"Or French? Because only Canada has both English and French on their official documents." Marie smiles smugly, and Yeong-mi looks up at her.

"How do I know you're not a Canadian spy?" Yeong-mi says in complete deadpan, and Marie breaths in and out again. She's about to respond, before Joon-ho cuts her off:

"You're acting like a child, noona! Just accept that Marie is telling you the truth!"

Marie shuts her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"I'd be a pretty incompetent spy if I was caught by Rumpa People's Pleasure Park trying to gain entry, so I could find a building to sleep in for the night," Marie explains, and Yeong-mi raises her eyebrows. "Please, believe me that Joon-ho just wants to protect you, and he doesn't want anything bad to happen to you, and wants you to come with him so you'll be safe."

"Do you want to come with us?"

Yeong-mi thinks this over for a few minutes, resting her chin in her palm. Marie was right, she did come off as an incompetent spy. But, what would happen to them if they follow her? Would she lead them to their deaths out of hate? That honestly doesn't seem possible with her, she'd probably be really obvious if that happens. And if she stays, she will most definitely be let go because of being family of a recent defector, family in close contact. She shudders at the thought of what could happen to her. It's best she leaves.

"I guess I'll go..."

Yeong-mi hears two twin sighs of relief, from her cousin and Marie. The pink pokemon huddling in Marie's arms squirms its way out of her embrace, walking towards the kneeling drummer. It crosses it's arms, and scowls angrily at her, and Yeong-mi can't help but laugh.

"What is this small, pink thing?" Yeong-mi asks, as the pokemon growls cutely. "What is it doing?"

"Her name is Jessica, and she's a clefairy!" Marie explains, and Yeong-mi can see her visibly loosen. "She's kind of a mama's girl, because I raised her when I was little. She's protecting me."

Yeong-mi laughs, her hand covering her mouth. 'Jessica' growls louder, moving closer to the drummer.

"She's cute," Yeong-mi grins, reaching her hand out to pet it, which makes the growls grow in volume. "She thinks she can beat me."

"Don't be so sure she can't!" Marie smiles, a dorky looking smile. "She can really bite with those teeth."

Yeong-mi jolts backwards in fear, which seems to satisfy Jessica, who walks away smugly. Marie giggles a little, before standing up and stretching her back out.

"Let's get moving." she says, and the two Lees stand up, Joon-ho freeing Yeong-mi's wrists. The three of them step out into the hallway, before Yeong-mi stops them.

"I have to get my some clothes and personal belongings from my dorm." she says, walking closer to her room. Joon-ho follows behind her, adjusting one of his bags. Marie nods, 'Jessica' walking by her side.

"Fine by me." the woman replies.

Yeong-mi walks over to her dorm door, and opens it slowly. Her dorm is a large, open living room with a couch, a wooden dresser, a small gas stove, a dining table, and her bed. Joon-ho follows her in, and bends down, placing his bag onto the floor. He manages to procure an entire military style bag from his own bag, folded in a way to compress size. He hands it off to Yeong-mi.

The drummer manages to gather her things without feeling any shame or guilt, even her parent's letters from Beijing. However, when she reaches for the picture of the Moranbong girls from Chuseok last year, wearing their hanboks, Yeong-mi feels her hands shake and a lump form in her throat.

"Noona?" Joon-ho asks, resting a hand on her shoulder. Yeong-mi swallows, feeling a burning sensation in her eyes.

"I'm going to miss them," Yeong-mi breathes, rubbing at her eyes. "A whole lot."

"I know, noona," he sighs, rubbing her shoulder softly. "I'll miss my friends back in the army too. But, we have to go."

With shaking hands, Yeong-mi slips the picture into her bag. She doesn't realize she's crying until she feels tears run down her face. When she notices, she can't hold herself in anymore, and bursts into sobs. Joon-ho pulls her into a hug, and she feels him cry as well, his shoulders shaking. It's like they're kids again, crying without regrets or anyone telling them not to, to be adults.

It takes them a few minutes to gather themselves, but they manage to do it, sniffling and rubbing their eyes. Yeong-mi slings her bag onto her back, and waits patiently for Joon-ho to follow her. He opens the door for her, and they walk into the hallway.

"Where's Marie?" Yeong-mi asks, scanning the hallway for any signs of her.

"Huh," Joon-ho says, crossing his arms. "That's weird… she should be waiting for us."

Yeong-mi is about to yell at Joon-ho for letting some girl scam him with the promise of defection, angry that she got caught in it as well, before she spots Seon-hyang's dorm room door wide open. That's odd... Seon-hyang's door is nearly always shut.

On a hunch, Yeong-mi walks over towards it, and spots Marie and the singer wrestling on the carpeted floor of her doorway. Seon-hyang flips Marie onto the floor, and attempts to scratch at Marie's eyes, the Canadian blocking them with her palms as she grits her teeth, not calling for help. 'Jessica' is watching the two brawl with a curious expression, claw up to her mouth. Joon-ho follows behind her, growls, then walks in and pulls Marie off of Seon-hyang. The singer attempts a lunge, before she spots Yeong-mi, and sits back, an expression of shock on her face. Yeong-mi feels her stomach drop painfully, and shame crawl under her skin.

Marie explained that Jessica lead her in there, and that Seon-hyang spotted her and attacked her for intruding, bit her hand and wrestled her to the ground, where they managed to see them. Marie hadn't meant to abandon them after all. Because of her intrusion, however, Seon-hyang was being extremely hostile to Marie, calling her a jackal and a spy.

After a few minutes of explaining, Seon-hyang demands to travel with them, even though it would mean traveling with Marie. Yeong-mi feels relief that her friend was going to be okay, before the reality that they could die traveling up there hit her. As they gather Seon-hyang's things together in a bag Joon-ho manages to fetch from a quick run downstairs, Yeong-mi looks over to see Marie staring sadly at the singer. She feels pity for the woman, her intent wasn't to upset the younger girl, but to get out peacefully. Yeong-mi walks over to her, and briefly places a hand on her shoulder. Marie looks up, and gives her a sad smile in response.

After a few more minutes, the room is clear of Seon-hyang's personal belongings, and Marie makes a bee-line for the door.

"Alright… Now that everyone has hopefully gathered everything they want to bring together," Marie says as she slings her bag on and picks up Jessica, cradling her softly. "Let's get out of this city, before we end up being a 12 person group."

Joon-ho leads us out of the dorm room, shutting the door behind us. The three others practically race down the hall towards the stairway, but Yeong-mi stays back.

She looks down the hallway to the dorms one last time, trying to capture it in her mind. Yeong-mi wants to remember every square inch of it, so that she will never forget her home. Even if she lives far far away from Pyongyang, she still wants to keep its memory within her.

Forever.

Blinking away tears, Yeong-mi turns away from the hallway, and walks down the stairway.

It's the last time she ever sees that hallway.

* * *

 **historical notes:**

 **Songsaenim: Mixture of the Korean honorific "Songsae" (선생) and "nim" (님). Roughly translates to 'teacher'. 'Nim' adds a extra level of respect.**

 **Chuseok: Korean holiday that occurs on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar (around autumn). Chuseok is a holiday dedicated to harvest, and the respect of ancestors, which involves traveling to the graves of said ancestors to pay respect. Traditional games are held, and a lot of good food is eaten.**

 **Hanbok: Traditional Korean dress, specifically of the Joson period. Traditonally, it consists of a jeogori, a blouse or jacket, and a chima, a wrap around skirt. Here is an example of a female hanbok, here is an example of a male hanbok. Hanbok was once considered daily dress in the Joson period, but is mainly worn now for holidays such as Chuseok or Lunar New Year, or at the birth of a child and weddings.**

 **"south" Korea: This is not a grammatical mistake! This is actually how South Korea is written in North Korean text, because they don't view the south as being it's own country.**

* * *

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby, unnamed - scraggy - m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **egg -unknown - unknown**


	16. Blue Rondo

**authors note:**

 **hey folks, been busy so this chapter's sorta late! sorry!**

 **anyways, the chapter title's from 'blue rondo à la turk' by the david brubeck quartet!**

 **enjoy!**

* * *

"How long is this stupid concert going to be?" Seon-hyang hisses, her hand resting on my knee.

I shrug, trying not to move too much so I don't accidentally wake up Jessica laying across my lap. After the league's official opening, a Chinese girl group of about 10 girls got on stage and began singing a chipper pop tune about love or something. I hypothesize it's to keep all the delegates from leaving the stadium in a mass rush. It's been about a whole hour, and they show no signs of stopping their performance, cycling through several different songs of a similar nature. If I was paying attention to anything, I'd probably be angry like Seon-hyang is, a tight frown on her face. However, I can't concentrate on anything other than the girl beside me.

She'd kissed me. By her own free will. I hadn't forced her to kiss me, hadn't manipulated or threatened her into it, nothing that would have haunted me for the rest of my life. It was so bizarre to think about, that the former soldier and pop star of an oppressive dictatorship who originally hated my guts kissed me willingly. I'd dreamed about it for a while, and yet, when it actually happened… I was at a loss of what to do next.

It wasn't like Seon-hyang was the first girl I'd fallen for. That distinction was held by Cyndi Wong, a Chinese singer who I was infatuated with when I was thirteen. And after that, there were more girls that I'd been attracted to, so Seon-hyang wasn't really unique in that way.

But, she was the first girl to actually (somewhat) return my feelings.

And that was big for me.

I'm shaken from my thoughts by Seon-hyang stroking my thigh softly, massaging it with her thumb. A flush of heat rises up from my belly, and I feel my face burn painfully. Her hand practically burns through my pant leg, and I breathe deeply in and out of my nose.

"Your muscles are very tight," Seon-hyang says softly, glancing over at me with curious, wide eyes. "Are you nervous?"

"N-No," I stutter, running a hand through my hair. "I'm just tired. Walked a lot today…"

"Mmm," she smiles mysteriously, running her free hand through my hair, nudging my hand away. "Maybe you should work out then. It'd be good for your legs."

"I dunno," I sigh sadly, stretching my arms somewhat. "I haven't worked out for a while, it'd probably make the rest of my body hurt more."

Seon-hyang laughs softly, shoulders shaking.

"Cutie," she hums, pinching my cheek with her free hand like she would with a child. "You do need to work out, though."

I pout sadly, as the band finishes their last song to deafening applause. After a few moments, an announcer in a dark suit declares the ceremonies over. All of us stand up alongside the other delegates, legs aching from sitting down on the ground for a long time. My parents and Guk-hyang find their way over to us, everyone but Guk-hyang beaming. Instead, the younger girl glowers at me, her arms stiff against her side. All of us follow the rest of the delegates out of the stage.

"So, how'd you like my speech?" my dad grins, crossing his arms. Guk-hyang walks by his side, staring at the two of us with an unreadable expression.

"I liked it," I say, shifting my arms slightly to balance Jessica's weight. "A little sappy, but y'know, it's sorta a sappy occasion."

"It was really good, Mr. Jones!" Joon-ho exclaims, a large grin on his face. Gwek-gwek is in his pokeball by now. "I think you spoke very well! Very inspirational, sir!"

My dad laughs in response, and Guk-hyang glances up at him with a curious look, before glaring back down at me.

"How did you like the show, Guk-hyang?" I ask in Korean, and she scowls at me.

"It was loud," she sniffs pretentiously, looking at me with squinting eyes. "The big events in Pyongyang are better. More fanfare and audience participation"

"You say that for everything…" I grumble. "What are you, some sort of event critic?"

Yeong-mi grunts and rolls her eyes at our arguing.

"Well, maybe because it's true! Maybe Pyongyang is better than Beijing!"

"Yeah, that's bullshit. Beijing can keep their lights on for more than five hours, I can say that the city sucks without being thrown into a prison camp, and I don't have to worship the president and bow three times in front of his picture."

"None of that matters!" Guk-hyang yells, stepping closer to me. "We're happy without all that dumb stuff!"

"Again, bullshit! People defect all the time, even more now that-"

"Will you two stop screaming at each other?" my mom snaps, and I jump back in shock. Guk-hyang flinches, as if my mother hit her, and backs away from me.

"'Kay," I mumble, hanging my head. "I'll be quiet."

Guk-hyang walks over to my mother, looking up at her sadly. She snuggles into my mother's side, and my mom pats her on the head softly. The teenager smiles up at her, and I see her glance over at me, almost smugly. I roll my eyes and snort.

We head down to the dressing rooms with the rest of the Canadian delegation, to presumably gather our things before returning to our hotel rooms. As we reach the door of our rooms, my mom turns to me.

"Our stuff's a floor up," my mom smiles at me, rubbing Guk-hyang's hair. My dad stands behind her, his hands on his hips and a grin on his face. "Try not to fight with her, okay?"

I nod solemnly and watch as my parents smile and walk away. The teenager attempts to walk with them, taking one step, before abruptly stopping in her tracks. Guk-hyang visibly slumps, and I hear a soft giggle from either Seon-hyang or Yeong-mi.

"Where are they going?!" the girl demands, stamping her foot on the ground. "Why are they leaving me with _you?_ "

"Wow, thanks," I deadpan, crossing my arms. "I feel so appreciated."

"Give me an answer!"

"They're going to get their things from the dressing room, okay? You don't need to be such a brat about it!"

"I'm not a brat!"

"Oh really now? From how you've treated both me and your unnie, I couldn't exactly tell!"

"Both of you are traitors to Kim Il-Sung, that's why I can't be nice to either of you!"

"How can I betray someone who I didn't even believe in in the first place, huh?"

"You lead Seon-hyang unnie down the path of becoming a traitor!"

"By showing her the truth? The truth that her country is close to collapsing in on itself? The truth that her country can barely provide for her, let alone keep the lights on for more than four hours at the most? The fact that while her own family was _starving to death,_ the little piggy you call the Supreme Leader was chowing down on cavia-"

" **WILL YOU TWO FUCKING SHUT UP?** "

Both of us flinch back at Joon-ho's shout, and I look over to see him visibly fuming. Guk-hyang shrinks against the wall, trying to look as small as possible.

"Now that you two have stopped screaming at each other," Joon-ho says, reaching over to the door. "Let's get our things together, so we can get the hell out of here. I'm exhausted."

Seon-hyang and I head into our room, making a beeline for our clothes strewn across the floor. As I bend down to pick up my dress and hoist it over my shoulder, I heard the distinctive patter of Guk-hyang feet, coming from behind. I groan lowly and rub the bridge of my nose. Thankfully, she remains mercifully silent as I stuff as much soda cans into my rather large purse as I can, until:

"Marie?"

"What?" I snap, glancing over at Guk-hyang. I can't see her face, but she doesn't appear to be gearing up to attack me again.

"Where am I going to go now?" she says, like a shy child. I feel myself soften a little.

"You'll head to Canada with my parents, tomorrow afternoon."

"And then what?"

"Hm…" I say thoughtfully, scratching my chin. "My parents might adopt you, or just take custody. You're way too young to live on your own, you know."

"What would happen if they adopted me?"

"Well, that would make you my younger sister," I grumble at the thought, and I glance over at the teenager. Her eyes are wide, and her face is visibly stiff with shock.

She stays silent as we walk out of the dressing room, meeting up with the Lees in the process. We stand around, waiting for my parents to come down before I hear:

"Marie?"

"Mm?"

"So, if I was adopted by your parents, would I have to forget Korean?"

"No…?" I glance over at her and cross my arms. "You wouldn't have to forget, you might have to learn like… English or Chinese. But you'll still remember Korean."

Guk-hyang is silent, thinking over what I just said. I sigh and lean my head against the wall.

"What's 'mom' in Chinese?" Guk-hyang asks, and I whip my head to her in shock.

"Uh, it's... 'Mama'. Like in English."

Guk-hyang sounds the word out tentatively, like a young child.

"'Dad'?"

"'Baba'."

She sounds out the word again.

"Is that the same in English?"

"I guess it can be… I usually just call him 'dad'," I shrug, scratching my hair. "It depends."

"So, what would you call me?" Guk-hyang looks over at me, blinking up at me with her crescent eyes.

"'Mui-Mui' in Chinese, 'little sister' in English."

"Huh." Guk-hyang sighs, resting her head against the wall. She glances over at me, a tight expression on her face. "Even if you become my sister, I still won't like you."

"Oh, thanks," I groan, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "Just when I thought we were getting closer…"

"I won't like you at all," The teenager sneers, grinning at me. "I'll hate you forever."

"That sounds exhausting," I murmur, scratching at my upper lip. "Might be bad for your heart."

"No, it won't!" Guk-hyang shouts, but instead of fighting her, I stay mute.

The teenager glowers at me for a few minutes, before turning away. I sigh and adjust the way I lay against the wall before I spot my parents walking towards us. Guk-hyang immediately runs to my mother, hugging her side. My mother coos at her softly, patting her head.

"Did you two get into another fight?" My mom asks, looking down at the girl. Guk-hyang shakes her head against my mother's waist.

"No," I smile, yawning a little. "She's just happy to see you, that's all."

"Oh really? From the way she's acting, I would assume that one of you threatened the other."

I laugh, playing with a strand of my hair. Seon-hyang leans her head against my shoulder, closing her eyes and humming softly, and I feel it burn through my blazer.

"Let's get moving," My dad gestures towards the door. "I'm sure all of you are exhausted from the ceremony and want to get to bed… I sure do."

The seven of us manage to evade the massive amount of crowds towards the front of the Bird's Nest and sneak out one of the side entrances. Beijing is lit up in all its glory, every building and street seemingly bathed in a golden light. The North Korean teenager beside me gawks at the sight, still clutching my mother's arm with white knuckles. There's an itch in my heart to grin at her and say 'I told you so', but I swallow it in fear that my mother would scold me for the resulting argument.

As we get closer to our hotel, after me and my dad stop to feed our pokemon, I notice the brightly lit storefront of an ice cream shop towards our right, pink lights sticking out in the golden street. As I walk closer, Seon-hyang close by my side, I spot Addy and Conor sitting at a table by the window, chatting about something and staring intently at one another, two cups of what appears to be chocolate ice cream between them. Conor glances over at us, and freezes at the sight of my dad, eyes wide. He gestures to Addy, who looks at him strangely before looking over at me. Addy waves wildly, and gestures for us to come in with sweeping arms that almost knock the ice creams off of the table, before Conor grabs them.

Guk-hyang enters first, racing in front of my mother and stopping abruptly when she reaches the welcome mat, whipping her head around the bright orange room with a frown on her face. After she's done her survey of the store, she gestures for us to come in with two fingers. I roll my eyes and walk in, turning to Addy, who's looking at the young girl with wide eyes.

"I don't know why she did that." I shrug, and Addy gestures to Guk-hyang with his lime green spoon.

"Why don't you ask her?"

I ask her.

"To see if there are any American spies," Guk-hyang huffs at me. "They could be anywhere in here…"

"She's just being paranoid," I laugh, scratching at my face as Jessica pouts at the two men. Hopefully, Conor doesn't know Korean... "Thinks that she's being watched. Isn't she funny?"

Thankfully, both of them laugh a little, and Conor doesn't _appear_ to be suspicious of us. I smile back at them and walk over to my parents at the cash register.

We all get our drinks (mainly bubble tea or milkshakes), and settle down at Addy and Conor's table, bringing seats over with a loud screeching noise.

"I-It's very nice to meet you, sir," Conor stutters, reaching his hand out for my dad to shake. "I'm a h-huge fan."

"It's my pleasure!" My dad smiles, shaking the man's hand briskly. "I've heard a lot about you!"

"Really?" he exclaims, looking at my dad with wide eyes. Addy smiles adoringly at Conor, resting his chin on his hand.

"Oh yeah! You were discussed pretty often in the States as a possible champion contender. Well, before the Chinese league..."

"I also heard about you," I pipe up, and Conor looks over at me. Jessica glances up at the trainer from her little cup of berry ice cream. "You were on the TV when we were in Shenyang. That's pretty impressive!"

"On a chat show!" Joon-ho chimes in, nodding his head.

Conor laughs somewhat anxiously.

"They mentioned me on that show, actually," I laugh between sips of my bubble tea. Jessica whines loudly when Yeong-mi's hand gets too close to her ice cream. "Said that they were expecting us to date! Isn't that funny?"

Addy grimaces at my remark, shaking his head at me. I shrug back at him.

"Oh yeah, that…" Conor laughs but looks up at me nervously. "I… I don't… y'know, feel like that about you."

Addy's face lightens up in a big grin, and clasps his hands together.

"That's fine!" I exclaim, before coughing abruptly, lowering my voice. "I mean, it's fine because we're on the same page. I'm not interested in you like that either!"

"She's interested in Seon-hyang," Addy smirks, and I turn bright red as he laughs. "Not you."

"Will you quit it!" I shout back before Seon-hyang speaks up.

"Marie's face is red!" she exclaims, pinching my cheek somewhat painfully. "She looks like her jacket!"

All the English speakers at the table laugh, and I pout at Seon-hyang. The girl only grins at me.

"I like red." she smiles in Korean. I flush an even brighter hue, and she giggles softly.

We spend another five minutes chattering about pokemon training, places to eat, traveling to the gym, and other things. Eventually, at around 11, we all head out of the ice cream place and say our goodbyes. I walk a few blocks down afterward, before my dad speaks up.

"I forgot to tell you this, but you're going to be on one of those TV shows when you reach Shanghai," he explains, clapping a hand on my shoulder. I look up at him with interest in my eyes. "Mr. Moreau said it was sort of like a Team Canada thing."

"Oh," I mutter before my eyes go wide and I exclaim. "B-But, what about Joon-ho, Yeong-mi, and Seo-"

"Don't worry about that," my dad waves off my concerns with a smile. "I told him that they're shy, and don't want to be filmed. He understands."

I let out a loud breath and feel myself relax, my muscles untightening.

"Thanks."

"It's no problem." my dad smiles, looking over at Guk-hyang, who is resting against my mother's shoulder as we walk through the golden doors of the hotel. Her eyes are shut, and for once today, she looks at peace.

"Doesn't she look sweet?" he asks, grinning and nudging my shoulder. "When she's not yelling at you, that is."

"Yeah," I hum, pulling one of the doors open. "Like a normal kid."

After all of us gather in the lobby, my parents say goodnight to us, and walk up to their hotel room, Guk-hyang fast asleep on my mother's shoulder. Joon-ho snatches a few more cookies before we head upstairs ourselves. As we stand silently in the elevator, Seon-hyang clasps my hand tightly and snuggles into my side. She rests her head on my shoulder, closing her eyes, and I can hear her soft breathing. I resist the urge to turn bright red and push her off and move a strand of her hair out of her eyes, a small smile on my face. Jessica shifts in my arms, and gently pokes the tip of Seon-hyang's nose with her claw. Seon-hyang scrunches up her face and grins at Jessica, who makes a loud giggling noise. The clefairy pats Seon-hyang's face ever so softly, before there's a chime, and the elevator doors open.

As we enter the room, Seon-hyang rushes over to her incubator, pressing her face up to the glass. After a few moments, she pulls away with a disappointed look on her face.

"It looks the same as it did when I left…" she frowns, crossing her arms.

"Well, you'll just have to be patient," I say, walking over to Seon-hyang, Joon-ho hot on my tail. "Eggs take a lot of time to hatch. Jessica took me two whole weeks to hatch!"

Seon-hyang frowns up at Joon-ho.

"But Joon-ho, your egg took only two days to hatch!"

"It was already really close to hatching," Joon-ho explains, fiddling with his scraggy's pokeball. "That's why it was so cheap! Well, at least, that's what Marie's dad told me."

"Oh."

Seon-hyang pouts, putting her incubator back down as she stands up. I rub her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. She smiles weakly up at me.

"C'mon," I say, patting her shoulder. "Let's watch some TV."

Seon-hyang races over to the TV set, sitting in front of Yeong-mi's bed. Jessica squirms out of my arms and skips over to her, squealing loudly.

Joon-ho hands me the remote, and I aimlessly flip through the channels.

"Let's see…" I mumble, scrolling with my thumb. "News, news, news, news, pokemon trainer news, Chinese drama, news, news, news… Oh!"

"More news?" Yeong-mi deadpans, rubbing her knee with her palm.

"Nope, Star Wars! And it's just starting too!" I smile, and Yeong-mi looks at me in confusion. "You know, the movie I told you about when we were leaving the barracks?"

Yeong-mi and Joon-ho shake their heads.

"Well, why don't we watch it?" I ask, and the two shrug.

We spend the next two hours watching the entirety of a New Hope, start to finish. As with Friends, the movie has no Korean subtitles, so I translate most of it. All of them were riveted to the screen, eyes never seeming to leave the screen. Afterward, when the movie ended, and the credits began to roll, we all head to bed, turning the TV off. Individually, we walk into the bathroom to change into sleeping attire, and I end up going last.

I fall onto the couch, reaching into my purse and retrieving Jessica with a flash of red. Seon-hyang follows me onto the couch soon after, only a little space between us. Turning towards her, I run my fingers through her hair, causing her to giggle softly, and look up at me with a smile that could melt anyone's heart.

She reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and I feel her gentle touch dance across my face.

"Go to sleep, Marie," she whispers.

I smile softly at her, before resting my head in a comfortable position. It usually takes me about fifteen minutes of tossing and turning to go to bed, but surprisingly, I fall asleep in an instant.

" _Mamaaaaaa!"_

 _My eight-year-old self dashes into the brightly lit kitchen, stomping in my slippers with a loud thumping noise, wearing dark jeans and a bright blue shirt, with dark hair reaching my shoulders. I'm clutching a bright yellow incubator, a pale pink egg inside of it. Mom is mixing some sort of substance in a bright red bowl, not looking at me._

" _What is it, sweetie?" she asks, glancing over at me. She has a large pink apron tied on, with several pockets on the front._

" _The kids at school were being meanies again!" I whine, tears burning in my eyes. "They said that my pokemon is going to be a wimpy, girly pokemon because the eggs pink!"_

" _Oh sweetie," My mother smiles, bending down to look at me. I pout at her. "Don't believe any of those kids! Not all pink pokemon are wimps… Do you think Meyli is a wimp?"_

 _I shake my head sadly._

" _But, what if my pokemon_ is _a wimpy, girly pokemon?"_

 _I hear faint laughter, and my eyebrows crease in response._

" _Well, then you'll have to train it!" my mom exclaims, clapping her hands together. "Your father started out with 'wimpy' pokemon, and had to train his pokemon up to be strong! You'll just have to learn like he did."_

" _Okay," I sniff, my voice a little more confident. "Thanks, ma-"_

" _I'M HUNGRY!"_

 _I barely manage to dodge a naked Barbie doll being flung at my head, bouncing off the cabinets and landing on the tile floor with a clatter. I look up and spot a young, four-year-old girl standing in the doorway. Her hair is short, reaching to her tiny ears, wearing blue overalls and a yellow shirt with a design of a bee on it, and she glowers at me with her crescent eyes._

 _I hear the laughter again, not from my father, but from multiple people, loud and hysteric. My face scrunches up in confusion._

" _What did I tell you?" My mother scolds, her hands on her hips. "You have to be polite if you want snacks, Guk-hyang."_

 _ **Guk-hyang!?**_ _I feel my mind reel painfully at the revelation, and I cover my face with my hands, digging my fingers into my scalp. The laughter returns, and I feel like screaming._

" _Can I pleeeeeaseeeeeee have some snacks?" Guk-hyang groans angrily._

 _Laughter again. I feel a shout build in my throat, and my eyes itch with unshed tears._

" _Only after you say sorry for throwing a doll at your older sister! That could've really hurt you, huh Marie? Marie? Marie?"_

" _ **MARIE?**_ "

I snap awake, heaving painfully and sitting up, clutching the sofa. I run my palms through my sweaty hair, panting hard. Just a dream, I remind myself, just a really awful dream…

"...Marie? Marie? Marie?" Seon-hyang mutters, her voice high with anxiety. "Marie?"

Suddenly, she lets out a piercing shout, her hands reaching out to the ceiling, fingers flexing like she's trying to grab something. Another shout, this one higher in volume, and I scramble over and shake her awake.

"Seon-hyang," I gasp, grabbing her shoulders. "Seon-hyang, Seon-hyang, Seon-hyang!"

The woman gasps into awareness and sits up, her eyes flitting around wildly, looking over her surroundings. As soon as she sees me, Seon-hyang's face scrunches up and she bursts into sobs. I feel two arms wrap around my chest as she buries her face into it, her body shaking with tears. I comfort her the best I can, talking in a soft tone, and rubbing up and down her spine. After I feel that she's calm enough to speak about her dream, I ask her a question.

"What happened?"

"Y-You… They w-were looking for us, and we were running, and running," she sniffles, clutching me closer. "We thought we'd lost them, we thought, we thought! B-But, they just… burst in… They got you first, and they were holding a gun to your head, threatening to shoot you if I didn't come back with them."

"I had to do it," Seon-hyang gasps between painful sobs. "I-I had to go! I c-couldn't let you…"

"Shhh," I whisper, pulling her close to me. "I'm here. You don't have to worry…"

"What if I lose you?" Seon-hyang sobs, tears running down her pretty face. "What if you're gone forever, like mom and dad?"

I say nothing, just hold her closer. My cheeks feel wet, and I sniff and close my eyes, trying to stop my crying.

"I can't even remember them. I don't know their faces, their names, anything about them… What if I forget you like I did with them?"

"Seon-hyang," I whisper, pulling her into my neck, just under my chin. "You've always known your parents."

She pulls away, looking at me with an incredulous expression across her tear strewn face.

"How?"

"Part of your mother and your father went into making you. Every time you look at your face, you see a piece of themselves that they've passed onto you."

Seon-hyang stares and me and sniffles, before snuggling into my neck again. I can hear her breathing deeply and steadily, and I smile, caressing her back.

"Do you want me to sing to you?" I ask, and Seon-hyang nods against my neck.

I take a deep breath in and sing the only Korean song that comes to mind.

"Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo…

Crossing over Arirang Pass.

Dear who abandoned me here,

Shall not walk even ten ri before his feet hurt

Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo…

Crossing over Arirang Pass.

Just as there are many stars in the clear night sky,

There are many dreams in our heart."

I take a deep breath in after finishing singing, and I wipe away my runaway tears with my index finger. Seon-hyang glances up at me with a curious expression on her face.

"Your voice is nice." she whispers, and I smile softly.

"Thank you," I murmur, and gently, I lower my head and kiss the tip of her nose. "That means a lot, coming from you."

Seon-hyang giggles softly, and I lay the two of us down without having to separate our limbs too much. Her body is warm, a beacon of heat, and I feel drawn to it, scooting over on my hands. I snuggle up next to her, resting my head next to hers, and holding her hand tightly. After I adjust myself, I fall into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep.

I wake up groggily, lying against Seon-hyang's chest, a crick in my neck again. My eyes flit around the room, taking in the silent magic of the early morning. Gently, I slide onto the floor, grab some spare clothes, and make my way to the shower.

A few minutes into my shower, while I wash the shampoo from my hair, the bathroom door clicks open. I scramble towards the shower curtain, peeking out from it while trying to retain some form of modesty. Seon-hyang stands by the sink, her eyes wide with shock and her face beet red.

"O-Oh!" she exclaims, stepping back, towards the door. "U-Um, would you mind if I washed my face in here?"

"Nope." I say, and I move back behind the curtain. The two of us do our own routines in silence until Seon-hyang speaks up.

"Marie?"

"Mmm?" I mumble. I'm done washing up by now, but I leave the shower on and don't move. Walking out nude in front of Seon-hyang was… a line I couldn't cross with her. Not yet.

"I'm sorry about last night."

"What?" I ask, peeking my head out of the shower. Seon-hyang jumps at the sight of me and flushes a deep pink. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because I made you upset!" Seon-hyang exclaims, crossing her arms. "You were crying. I should've kept it to myself…"

"No, no no no!" I shake my head, legs instantly moving forward, an instinctual push towards her. I stop myself before I rush out and flash her. "Y-You didn't burden me! And besides, if you leave all that cooped up inside, it'll stew over, and you'll feel worse in the end."

"Really?" Seon-hyang hums, dabbing at her face with a pink washcloth.

"Yeah. You shouldn't be keeping all that worry to yourself, you know? I don't like seeing you upset…"

Seon-hyang nods solemnly, glancing over at me.

"And besides, you didn't wake me up," I grin, watching Seon-hyang's face soften. "I had a weird dream as well."

"Of what?"

"I dreamed that Guk-hyang was my little sister," I say, and Seon-hyang laughs loudly. "And that she threw a doll at my head."

"Did she hit you?"

"Nope!" I smile confidently, and Seon-hyang giggles again. After she stops, she stands around awkwardly, before:

"I should let you change, shouldn't I?" Seon-hyang mumbles, walking over to the door. I almost want to tell her to stay, but I nod quickly.

After I change into my clothes, Seon-hyang and I wake up the Lees. Yeong-mi wakes up immediately, while Joon-ho fights waking up for a few minutes. After the two cousins change clothes and wake up completely, we head downstairs to eat.

My parents are already up when I reach the lounge, holding a table with four plush chairs for us. Guk-hyang is by their side, blinking sleepily and holding an upside down Chinese newspaper in her hands. I raise my eyebrows at my mom as we walk over, and gesture towards Guk-hyang.

"She's a heavy sleeper," my mother notes, looking over at the drowsy girl. "Took the both of us a really long time to wake her up."

Seon-hyang smiles softly at her, before sitting down next to me. Guk-hyang squints at the newspaper as if she's trying to read it. After watching her with pity across his face, my dad reaches over and flips the newspaper right side up. The teenager glances over and nods in thanks.

We order our food and eat it in somewhat melancholy silence. It's only after we all finish eating that my father speaks up.

"So," my dad smiles at all of us, and I raise my eyebrows in interest. "I was thinking earlier, and I remembered a little game that I used to play when I was a trainer."

"What sort of game?" I ask, mixing my coffee with a spoon.

"Well, whenever I entered a new city, we'd go into the nearest patch of grass, find a pokemon, and catch it, and I think it'd be a fun idea for you guys," he explains, and Joon-ho leans forward, interested. "It'll help with getting your teams together! How does that sound?"

"It sounds cool." I agree, nodding along with Joon-ho.

"So… you, Yeong-mi and Guk-hyang both haven't caught any pokemon in Beijing, right?" dad says, and I nod again. "So… there should be a decently sized park in the city, somewhere…"

"Zhongshan Park, maybe?" my mother suggests, looking at her phone. "Says on this website that the park's a popular pokemon catching spot."

"Hrm…" my dad says, rubbing his stubbly chin, deep in thought. "Well, why not? Maybe there's something good in there… How far is it, Mei?"

"It's by the Forbidden City, a few blocks over from Tiananmen Square."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" My dad exclaims, clapping his hands. "Let's gather our things, and head out to catch something!"

So, about a half hour later, I found myself standing in the bitter cold of Zhongshan Park, shivering in my big green coat. The bright colors of the paifang gates of the entrance greet us, standing out in the gray landscape.

"Do you think we'll find anything?" I venture, glancing back to my father. Guk-hyang is by his side, wearing her long wig, and a large red coat, looking absolutely miserable.

"Oh sure you will!" my dad exclaims, placing his hands on his hips. "Just because it's cold, doesn't mean you won't find something!"

"I guess you're right…" I murmur, getting my pokeballs out. I release Jessica, who immediately screams because of the cold, before walking over to Yeong-mi, who looks cold in her black parka, the sleeves covering her hands.

"I think it's only fair that you get to use a pokemon as well," I smile, handing the shivering girl Nina's pokeball. "So, here ya go!"

Yeong-mi thanks me near silently, and walks beside me.

I look over at Guk-hyang, who's looking over at my dad with a pleading look in her eyes as he rustles through his bag. He gives her Beom's pokeball, and with a click, she releases the badger pokemon. Beom roars at first, but calms down when he realizes that he's not in a battle, he calms, sniffing the air.

"So, we'll wait around here, hopefully in a nice, warm building for you three to come back," my dad explains, and I nod. "If there's any emergency, I need you to come back here as fast as you can and for you to call us, you understand? I don't want you trying to pull off what you did yesterday, young lady! Otherwise, call us if you need anything else."

"Okay," I nod, uncomfortable with the thought of having to battle another North Korean agent. "I'll stay out of trouble, I promise."

And with that, I pick up a squirming and whining Jessica, and lead the two girls and our pokemon through the wooden gates, and down the path to the park. I look over to see Guk-hyang waving at my parents excitedly, Beom glowering at her. I snort out a giggle at the girl as we lose sight of them.

* * *

 **Arirang: old Korean folk song, performed on both sides of the DMZ, named after a mountain pass. Marie is singing the standard version.**

 **Zhongshan Park: A park nearby the former palaces of the Forbidden City. It's thousands of years old, full of beautiful shrines and sacrificial altars. The park itself was once named Central Park, but was renamed after the first political leader of China, Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan was a psuedonym he got while hiding in Japan) in 1928, a few years after his death.**

* * *

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby, unnamed - scraggy - m**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **n/a**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **egg -unknown - unknown**


	17. Grace Kelly

**au** **thor's note:**

 **hey everyone! sorry again for the month delay, i had too much going on in august this year to write :(**

 **anyways, the chapter's title is from 'grace kelly' by mika**

 **i hope you enjoy!**

* * *

" _I'm the hot crush that all girls dream of, a rush that makes that your heart beat faster._ "

Singing aimlessly, almost to myself, we walk through the stiff, tall yellow grass of the park, searching the grass for pokemon. Zhongshan spans out in front of us, wintery forest with traditional pathways surrounding it. Jessica watches the grass with wide eyes, looking for any wild pokemon that could run out at me, her hands clenching into tiny fists. Guk-hyang is huddling up in her coat to my right, glaring at me from the corner of her eyes, Beom leading her forward. Yeong-mi is to my left, head whipping around, while Nina stays close, protecting her with her big ears close to her skull.

" _Pretty unnies like me, 'cause they'll get prettier if they like me."_

I hear Guk-hyang sigh out of her nose, and my mouth quirks up in a smirk.

" _They love me 'cause I'm hot, they love me 'cause I'm cold, they love me 'cause I'm-"_

"Sing something else," Guk-hyang snaps, crossing her arms. "I don't like this song! It's trashy!"

I sigh angrily, rolling my eyes.

"Fine, fine," I grunt, stretching my arms. " _I used to be nice, soft and tender, but if I keep going crazy like this, you'll change me into something bad_."

Guk-hyang groans, throwing her head back. I just grin at her and sing just a little louder.

"No more singing," Yeong-mi snaps, and I stop abruptly. "Your pointless bickering is keeping me from focusing."

I cross my arms and frown, looking around at the grass. The winds blows us around like dolls, and I can barely feel my ears. If I didn't have two women who were intensely searching for pokemon, I'd probably give up right about now. It's too much trouble, my mind reasons, what are you gonna get in this miserable wintery wasteland, a pidgey? Two pidgeys?

My mind turns to Seon-hyang, and I briefly wonder if she's enjoying herself with my parents. Is she lonely? Does she miss me? Even though we've only been together for a short amount of time, there's a phantom ache in my heart, like something is missing.

I think of her face, how when she smiles, her eyes curve into a crescent-moon shape, and the dimples on the sides of her cheeks become visible. When she laughs, it's a soft, melodic noise that doesn't grate on me, doesn't seem fake. How soft and warm her fingers feel when they stroke ever so softly over my knuckles, like they were something fragile…

"What _is_ that?"

I snap out of my reverie with a shake of my head and turn towards the voice. Yeong-mi is staring at something in the distance, eyes wide. Following her stare, I spot a tiny little mantis pokemon, only reaching to my ankles, with big pink eyes, what looks to be a plant bud on its head, leaves around the bud on its head and its neck, and stubby little green scythes that serve as its arms. The little creature cowers by a large, skeletal looking bush, shaking in the cold.

I grab my phone from my jacket pocket and have it read out the entry.

"Fomantis, the Sickle Grass Pokémon. During the day, it sleeps and soaks up light. When night falls, it walks around looking for a safer place to sleep."

I stare at the shivering little bug, my eyebrows furrowing. Little thing didn't look like it was made for the cold, so why is it here? With a swipe of my finger, I turn to the "RANGE" section, and the computer reads the information out for me.

"Fomantis is found in rainforests in Southeast Asia, including the countries of Malaysia and Indonesia."

"Oh…" Yeong-mi sighs sadly, sending a pitying glance to the bug pokemon. "It must be so cold in this weather!"

She crouches down to the ground, trying to draw the bug pokemon closer by cooing at it. The fomantis stares for a second, before hissing loudly, and charging at the woman as fast as its little stubby legs can take it, arms ready to strike. Before it can slice Yeong-mi to ribbons, Nina jumps between them and swipes at the little bug pokemon, sending it to the ground. Jessica squeals loudly and rushes over to attack the bug pokemon as well. I scoop her up in my arms, ignoring her flailing and crying, and switching between looking at Nina and looking at Yeong-mi.

Yeong-mi sits in place, eyes wide in shock, clutching the front of her coat softly. I quickly jog over to her, watching out of the corner of my eye as the fomantis stands up. Nina growls at it, her poisonous spines becoming visible through her fur. The bug lunges at her, swiping a somewhat shallow cut against her side. Nina shoots a purplish barb at the fomantis, lodging itself in its shoulder, and I watch as it begins to sway and its eyes begin to close.

I fumble quickly through my bag, and grab a pokeball as Jessica bites my jacket sleeve, handing it to Yeong-mi. She stares at it in her hands, like it was some sort of bomb, before hurling it at the formantis. The pokeball consumes the falling bug pokemon in a bright red light before landing on the ground. I hold my breath as the ball shakes once, twice, three times, before clicking loudly.

"Okay," I say, my voice audibly shaking. I grab a potion from my bag as Nina walks over to me, wincing somewhat. With the potion in hand, I clean out her wound before treating it, watching it heal up. "That happened. I... guess that's your pokemon now, Yeong-mi."

The woman is silent, looking at the pokeball with concern. Guk-hyang is grimacing close by her, Beom hovering in front of her, on his hind legs, sniffing the air.

"If you don't want it," I clasp a hand to her shoulder, and Jessica tries to wriggle out of my arms, and Yeong-mi glances up at me. "I can swap it out for another pokemon."

"I want it," she says softly, glancing at the ball. "I'm just worried that it'll be angry all the time, and hate me."

"Well, pokemon usually calm down after they're caught," I smile, trying to comfort her. "It might just be a little unsure of you, that's all."

Yeong-mi's expression softens a little, and she just stares at the pokeball, hand over her mouth. After a few moments of silence, she speaks up.

"I guess I'm a trainer now," she says softly, unbelievingly. Yeong-mi turns towards me, a smile on her face. "If you'd told me a month ago that I'd get a pokemon, I'd probably would've laughed straight in your face."

I laugh, and the three of us walk forward. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Guk-hyang staring at me, her mouth taut and body stiff. Her eyes turn back to the park, and she scratches her arm almost anxiously.

I look over to spot a group of three trainers, presumably either Chinese, Japanese or Korean, walking around in the same manner as us. Between the three are a chubby looking shinx, a gangly looking pawniard, and a weird gold and black spider pokemon, with a water bubble surrounding its head. Guk-hyang sniffs in agitation, before speaking:

"Who are those people?" she snaps, her eyes wide.

"They're trainers!" I exclaim, clapping my hands together. "Like you, Yeong-mi and me!"

"I'm not a trainer, Marie," Guk-hyang scoffs, rolling her eyes like a petulant child. "My pokemon was given to me by the Marshal for the purpose of bringing Seon-hyang and Yeong-mi back to Korea, not to battle in your silly little tournaments."

"Oh sure," I laugh, crossing my arms and looking at her out of the corners of my eyes. The girl scowls at me, her foot tapping on the ground. "You say that _after_ I utterly thrashed you in a pokemon battle. _Sure, Guk-hyang, suuuuure…_ "

"Stop bickering, you two," Yeong-mi commands, before Guk-hyang can send a retort to me, and I frown. "Can't you two just get along at least once?"

"The universe would shatter if that happened," I snark, noticing that the trainers are looking at us from afar. Jessica squirms in my arms, an angry pout on her face.

"No, it won't. You two _got_ to try and get along, for your parents' sake!"

"I'm not her sister!" Guk-hyang screams, her eyes wide.

"I never said you were!" Yeong-mi exclaims, and Guk-hyang steps back. "But you two are going to be living with each other for a long time! Don't you think you should _attempt_ to try and come to amends."

Guk-hyang pauses, a thoughtful look on her face. Then, her face contorts in anger, and she points over at me.

"No! I won't be nice to her because it's all her fault!"

"My fault?" I ask, even though I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

"If you'd never seduced Seon-hyang unnie, we wouldn't have had to been sent to China to get her back!" Guk-hyang sneers, and I frown.

"I didn't do anything to convince her," I grumble, crossing my arms. The trainers walk past us, and I wave at them with a smile. "She chose to go with me. Not my fault that you or your 'General' can't face the facts."

Guk-hyang opens her mouth to respond, before a flash of something orange dashes out at Beom, slashing his nose. Beom snarls loudly, a burst of flames surrounding his neck, as the creature dashes away into the bushes, by an empty stone pond. He relaxes a little as it disappears, sniffing softly and standing up in its hind legs, looking up at Guk-hyang.

However, in a split second, the creature dashes forward and attempts to slash at the typhlosion again. This time, Beom is able to slap it away with one of its tan paws, making the orange creature fall to the dead grass, before slowly standing up. Now that the pokemon was standing still, I could tell that the attacking pokemon was some sort of pikachu, female judging by the notch in her tail, uncharacteristically thin and gangly for one of her species, but what was the most confusing was the pale orange hue of her coat. How bizarre.

Guk-hyang sniffs dismissively and gestures for me to give her the pokeball without looking at me. Jessica emits a low growl that trails off into angry chattering.

I oblige begrudgingly, and Guk-hyang tosses it over to the pikachu, landing straight on her little round head. After a few seconds of rolling about, the ball shatters in a blast of red light, and the pikachu growls at the girl. Guk-hyang turns to me with rage in her eyes.

"Why'd you give me a broken ball, huh?"

"I didn't know, jeez! These things break just 'cause, sometimes!" I sniff angrily, rummaging through my backpack, before pulling out a pokeball. Try again."

Guk-hyang throws again, and I pray to anyone that can listen that she doesn't use up all my pokeballs trying to catch a fucking pikachu. After consuming the pikachu, the red-and-white ball rolls once, twice, thrice, and then clicks. Guk-hyang picks it up, and blinks at it, rotating the ball in her hand.

"What do I do next?" she sniffs, looking at me with a bored look on her face.

"Well, she's your pikachu now!" I smile in fake excitement. "Why don't you give her a name, Guk-hyang?"

Guk-hyang places a hand over her mouth and stares thoughtfully at the pokeball in her hand.

"Jujwi," Guk-hyang says, placing the pokeball in her pocket. I see a hint of a smile on her face. "She's cute."

I laugh, and I am about to tease her for being so sweet when I hear a familiar, smarmy voice from behind me:

"Well, what do you know?"

I stiffen and my stomach drops, Jessica looking up at me with wide eyes. I turn to face the generic blond boy from yesterday, smirking at me with his sneasel close by his side. Next to him, is a tall, thin, somewhat nervous boy, with an oval face, his wide brown eyes blinking at me. He's wearing an orange jacket that seems to be a few sizes too tight, a white dress shirt, and his dark hair reaches to his neck. A wartortle stands by his side, grinning up at me. I roll my eyes, and I hear Beom emit a low growl.

"It's the hottie from the ceremony!" the blond boy sneers, placing his hands on his hips. "Where's your boyfriend at?"

"I don't know where he is," I sniff, Jessica growling and babbling, trying to wrench my arms away. "Why do you care?"

"Well, I don't know, you're the daughter of one of the most powerful trainers ever to challenge the American League," he grins, the sneasel beside him glaring at Jessica with narrowing eyes. "Don't you think you can try a little harder than getting shacked up some try-hard Chinese guy?"

I exhale through grit teeth.

"First off: we aren't dating, so fuckin' jot that one down."

"Second off," I growl, stepping closer to the two boys. "What's your point? Why are you fussing over who I choose to date? It's not like I'm being studded out to every other kid of a league champion for 'pokemon trainer traits' like with pokemon!"

The two boys back away, and the taller boy starts to speak, eyes darting from side to side.

"What my f-friend here is saying, is that you're holding yourself back by traveling with him, and these girls," the boy stammers, gesturing towards my group. I narrow my eyes. "Why not j-join us?"

"Thanks, but no," I say sharply, face contorting into a scowl. "I'm fine with who I'm with. Now fuck off."

"Well then," the blonde sneers, jabbing a finger into my chest. I stare at it blankly, while Jessica tries to bite his finger. "If you're gonna choose to be a bitch and not join us, you'll end up on the wrong side of the stadium, got it?"

"Sure," I shrug, as the two boys walk away. "That's fine."

After they leave my vision, I just stand there silently, staring at the grass. If I were back home, I'd take what he suggests - a petty rivalry between trainers - literally. But, I wasn't home. I was in China, after traveling through North Korea for a week, with god knows how many teenage girl soldiers after my head. So, I just felt somewhat hollow, like this was something I _should_ be enjoying, training up to beat blondie and his nervous wreck friend senseless.

"Who were they?" Yeong-mi asks, placing a hand on my shoulder, and I look over at her in surprise. Jessica hums sadly and looks up at me.

"Just a bunch of kids," I groan, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "They wanted to be my rival. I almost told them I already had one, named Kim Jong-un."

I laugh emptily.

"Huh," Yeong-mi sighs, rubbing my shoulder. "Well, they don't know any better. Probably think you're just another girl to battle."

"Mhm," I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose. "Let's make our way to the exit."

"But, what about your pokemon?"

"I can try to catch one on our way back," I smile, placing Jessica back on the ground. She waddles forward, chattering to herself. "Let's-"

As soon as I speak, I hear a loud squawking noise, I notice a large group of spearow cawing and gathering around some sort of object. Jessica squeals excitedly and runs after the commotion, and I jog behind her, Nina close behind. At the sight of a human, the birds scatter, leaving a round, pinkish-red pokemon, with a green stem and leaves on top of its head, and a sweet, fruity smell fills the winter air. It shivers in a mixture of pain and fear and looks up at Jessica, who is examining it curiously. After investigating the pokemon, Jessica squeals up at me, tugging at my parka. I bend down to look at the pokemon, trying to make myself less threatening. The creature blinks over at me and makes a fearful noise, something between a squeak and a loud cry.

"Hullo," I say softly, and the pokemon tries to jolt away in fear. I reach my hand out, in an attempt to calm it down. It looks at my hand with wide eyes, before righting itself onto its feet, and walking over to me. It stares at me for a few seconds, and I pull out my phone and scan the pokemon in front of me.

"Bounsweet, the fruit pokemon. When running away from other pokemon, bounsweet flees danger by skipping along the ground. Since its bouncy movements don't convey to others that it's actually in desperate flight, no one ever comes to its aid."

I grimace at the rather dark pokedex entry, but I can't think about it too long before the bounsweet jumps into my arms. I laugh a little as the pokemon snuggles into my arms, making a strange but happy noise. I grab another pokeball, my second to last, and gently press the front button. The ball consumes the plant pokemon in a red light, and the ball shakes in my hands before clicking loudly. The euphoria of catching a pokemon overwhelms me, a big dopey grin on my face, until I hear Jessica squeal angrily to my right, and I turn to spot her wrestling with a spearow. After a few more punches from her stubby fists, the bird books it out of there, flying away in the clear sky. She shakes her head roughly before skipping cheerfully and smugly back to me.

"Showing them who's boss, hm?" I ask, a smile on my face. Jessica nods quickly, placing her hands on her hips. I reach down to pet

I look over to the two girls behind me, who have surprise written across their faces.

"Well, let's get going!" I gesture for them to come forward, and I dial my dad's phone number as they slowly approach. It rings twice before my dad picks up.

"You done?" he asks, and I nod, before realizing that I wasn't visible through the phone.

"Yeah, where are you guys?"

"We're in a Starbucks a block down."

"Ooh," I smile, thinking of warm coffee in a hot building. "I'm coming."

With that, I hang up my phone, but before I close my phone, I scan bounsweet's pokeball, and glance over the information given. In the 'nickname' slot, I type the name "Irene", and hear the two bell chime as the name registers.

After that, the three of us walk up the stone steps of the main path, making our way back, Guk-hyang retrieving Beom into his pokeball before heading up with us. Our walk to the Starbucks is silent, all three of us tired of talking and doing much of anything faces dark and eyes barely staying open as we walk past groups of chattering young adults. Looking back at them, I can see one group point at Guk-hyang and me, and cover their mouths in amazement. I wave back weakly in response.

Finally, we reach the Starbucks door, and I practically fling the door open and run in, sighing at the feeling of warm air against me. I spot my parents sitting with Joon-ho, and I walk towards them before an American sounding lady sitting at a table with a litten squirming in her arms stops me for an autograph. She's visibly nervous, dark brown eyes looking back and forth as sweat drips down her face, and she runs her hands through her short dirty blond hair.

She chattered on about how her father and mine were childhood neighbors, and how her litten (Grom) was the child of her father's incineroar that my dad trained against.

"So, did you come to Beijing to try to become champion?" I ask, smiling warmly. Guk-hyang stares at the girl with distrust in her eyes and a frown.

"No, I-I'm here with my father. He's, uh, a diplomat for Canada. Works in the embassy," she stutters, scratching the head of her litten, who looks up at her with a straight face. "I'm uh, more of a writer myself."

"The embassy, huh?" I ask, trying to mask my curiosity. "Bet a lot goes on in there, doesn't it?"

"Oh yeah," she says, leaning forward and lowering her voice. "A few days ago my dad had to mediate a fight between North Korean and American diplomats. O-Over that whole 'Moranbong' thing. Apparently one of the girl's father works for the embassy, and he believes that B-S cover story that his daughter was kidnapped to be the bride of some American soldier. So the dude runs into the American embassy, demands to see one of the ambassadors, and starts to _literally fight the guy_. L-Like, punches and kicks and stuff."

"So, I and my dad are called over to the American embassy, my dad because he's known to mediate this sort of stuff, me because I know conversational Korean, and we basically spend twenty minutes talking this guy down. He was convinced that the embassy was holding his daughter in some sort of secret room behind a painting like in Scooby-Doo!"

I laugh nervously, trying not to give my fear away.

"Yeah, apparently he's really invested in that belief because he keeps coming back to demand that they return his daughter. We have to go back and forth, back and forth…"

She trails off, looking over at Grom, who is chewing on her jacket's drawstrings. With a swift hand, she tugs it out of his mouth, causing him to howl in anger.

"A-Anyway, sorry for being intrusive," she stammers, as Grom tries to bite her fingers. "But, thank you for the autograph!"

"It was nothing," I smile, crossing my arms. "I think we'll be seeing each other around though."

The girl smiles back, and waves to me as I walk to the table where my parents are sitting at, with a t-shirt wearing Joon-ho next to them, a smile on his face. My dad smiles as he sees us, and waves at Guk-hyang. For the second time today, Guk-hyang smiles, and waves back. I sit next to Seon-hyang who is wearing a black turtleneck and dark jeans, clutching a cup of either hot chocolate or tea in her right hand. She smiles at me as I stretch my arms out, her eyes turning into crescents, and I feel my heart flutter.

"How was it, you three?" my mother asks, a smile across her face.

"It was good," I hum, itching at my arms. "All of us managed to catch a pokemon, so I'd call it a success."

"Ooh!" my dad exclaims, clapping his hands together. "So you didn't just give up!"

"I told you she would do it," Seon-hyang says in English, crossing her arms and pouting at my father, who grins widely.

"Anyways, who was that you were talking to?" my dad asks, and my mother looks at me curiously.

"Oh, it was a girl who wanted my autograph," I explain, resting my head against my hand. "Said that her dad knew you, that you trained against his incineroar. He works at the embassy, that's why she's here."

"Wait, really!?" he exclaims, and practically jumps out of his seat, heading for the girl and her litten. I watch as they talk somewhat loudly, my dad gesturing wildly with his hands. Seon-hyang nudges me with her elbow, and I turn to her.

"What pokemon did you catch?" she asks, smiling warmly at me. I grab Irene's pokeball from my bag and release her in a flash of light. The bounsweet snuggles into my chest, before peeking over at Seon-hyang, who smiles wide, and reaches a hand out to greet her. Irene stares at her hand, before nudging towards Seon-hyang, letting the woman pet her leaves, which causes her to grin.

"What kind of pokemon is that?" Joon-ho asks, peeking at Irene, who looks over at him as well.

"A bounsweet," I smile, patting her gently, causing her to let out a happy squeaking noise. "She practically jumped into my arms after I saved her from a bunch of spearows."

"Aww," Seon-hyang smiles, bending down to look at Irene. "Did Marie save you?"

The bounsweet makes a chirping noise as if saying yes, and Seon-hyang giggles loudly. Before Seon-hyang can speak, my dad comes rushing over, a gigantic grin on his face.

"So, why don't we all head over to the Canadian embassy to meet Rosine's father?" my dad smiles, clapping his hands together. "We've got like, what, five hours until our plane? Why not?"

"Sure," my mother smiles, shaking Rosine's hand. "I'm sure Marie needs a little break from all the pokemon training, don't you?"

I nod quickly, before suddenly realizing something, causing my stomach to drop.

"Fuck, my coffee!" I exclaim, immediately rushing to my feet, and to get in line.

After a few minutes, I finally have my coffee, and we set off towards the next metro stop, through the loud streets, full of kitschy gift shops with signs in both English and Chinese. Rosine travels with us, Grom trotting beside her, looking around him nonchalantly. Irene is snuggling deep in my coat, and Seon-hyang has her arm around mine, humming softly.

"So, Marie," she asks, stretching her arms. "Y-You liking Beijing so far?"

"Oh, yeah," I smile, Irene squirming in my jacket. "I feel right at home here, all the historical stuff, the bustling city… Reminds me a little of Vancouver."

"Uh huh," Rosine smiles, crossing her arms.

There's silence, as we go down the metro station steps, and pay for our tickets. I take a sip of my coffee, and Seon-hyang sits next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. Rosine smiles at us, Grom crawling up her leg.

"So, about that North Korea thing," I say, nervously fiddling with my fingers. "Have you heard… Rumors about the embassy workers?"

"Mmmm…" she says, scratching her chin. "Staff at the American embassy say that the North Korean diplomats are paid shit wages, that they have to shop in thrift stores for office supplies, a-and that they rarely leave the compound, to begin with, but other than that, I don't know."

She pauses, looking over at me.

"Why are you asking?"

"W-Well, the story you told me was interesting," I smile, cursing internally at my stutter. "I wanted to learn more."

"I think that's all anyone knows," she snorts, rolling up her sleeves. "They're all very… enigmatic."

The train arrives, and all of us step onto it. My parents and Guk-hyang sit down on one set of seats, while the rest of us stand. There's silence as the train heads to Chaoyang station, and I lean my head against Seon-hyang's shoulder.

"Tired out, huh?" Joon-ho laughs in English, and I nod against her shoulder.

"It was sooooooo cold in Zhongshan," I grumble, as Irene peeks her head out of my jacket, glancing around the subway car. "Most of the pokemon left in the park were incredibly hostile, probably due to the poor conditions. Who knows."

Joon-ho grimaces, crossing his arms.

"At least you found that little… girl?"

"Girl," I affirm.

"Okay," Joon-ho hums. "At least you found that little girl before the spearows ate her… What's her name?"

"Irene."

"Irene," he repeats, scratching at his hair, which is starting to look less like a buzz cut and more like the short, hip haircuts seen in Beijing. "That's a cute name."

"Thanks."

After we get off the train at Chaoyang station, Irene dead asleep in my jacket. Rosine starts to lead us down towards the embassy and informs us that it will take us about forty-five minutes to reach it by foot. I throw my head back and scream, causing the people walking by me to glare in confusion and anger.

"Don't be like that," my mother chastises me, and I frown. "You'll be walking everywhere for your journey! I and your father backpacked _all_ the way from New York to Miami, and that's only for the last gym!"

"I know, I know," I grumble, and a groggy Irene looks up at me. "Sorry."

When we finally reach the embassy, with its brick walls, steel fences, and a big sign reading "CANADA", Seon-hyang is practically dragging me along by the hand, and Irene is fast asleep again, breathing against my chest. Rosine presses a buzzer on the front, states her name and that she's there for a visit for a Jordan Boucher, that it was Thomas Jones visiting, and the gate opens with a painful squeaking noise. She gestures for us to follow her down the path, and Seon-hyang tugs me forward.

When we enter the building, to a clinically white interior full of desks and chattering secretaries, we are met with a man wearing a dark suit, with a sharp face and dark green eyes. His mouth is split in a wide grin, and he practically runs over to my dad to hug him.

"I can't believe you made time for little old me!" Mr. Boucher jokes, and my dad laughs. "How are you, man?"

"Oh, I'm wonderful!" my dad smiles, bringing me and Guk-hyang forward. "We're just leaving Marie to attempt the Chinese League!"

"Oh, we've heard!" Jordan exclaims, clapping a hand on my shoulder. "You're a big-time celebrity in China now! Everyone's talking about you, especially here!"

I laugh loudly and try to hide my blush. Seon-hyang smiles at me and rubs my arm.

He points to Guk-hyang, who looks at his finger in confusion and fear.

"And who's this?"

"That's Marie's little sister!" my dad smiles, and I try to not look upset. "Her name's Meifong! She's adopted and doesn't speak English or Chinese, so she's not much of a… talker."

"I bet she's interested in pokemon just like her older sister, isn't she?"

"Yeah," my dad says, patting Guk-hyang's shoulder. Guk-hyang smiles up at my dad. "Trained a cyndaquil up to a typhlosion, all by herself."

I try to remain stoic at the lies my father is telling, trying not to give us away. It feels so weird to be lying like this, but we have to do it, with an alternative like deportation and probable death for the girl.

As I contemplate the morality of lying to a perfectly okay guy, I watch one of the secretaries walk over to Mr. Boucher, and pulls him over to talk in low tones. I watch the smile drop off his face, and I know what's going to happen next.

"Sorry, uh," Mr. Boucher smiles nervously. "The American embassy has been having trouble with a North Korean diplomat, and they asked me to come sort it out."

"Did Mr. Lee have to come right now?" Rosine grumbles, stuffing her hands in her jacket pockets. Grom rubs against her leg. A nauseous feeling comes over me, squirming in my belly.

"Rosine, you know that he's upset about his daughter going missing," Mr. Boucher says in low tones. "He just wants to find her."

I seriously want to puke. Seon-hyang notices my pale expression and rubs her thumb over my knuckles, and I glance at her, trying to fake a smile.

"But she's not there!" Rosine exclaims, indignantly. "His crazy dictator said she went across the DMZ! Why does he think she's in China, held up in the embassy?"

"I don't know," Mr. Boucher says softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Some people believe what they want to believe. Now, let's get going…"

"Wait," I say suddenly, and the two look at me. "I'm fluent in Korean. I can translate for him if you want."

Mr. Boucher and my dad look at me in surprise, and I swallow painfully.

It was somewhat of an impulsive decision, but it seemed to be the morally right thing to do in my mind. I caused Mr. Lee to start attacking the US ambassador indirectly.

Why don't I fix it, my mind reasons, and make it all better?

"Sure," Mr. Boucher smiles. "We always need an extra hand."

"I go," Seon-hyang says abruptly, and I look at her, begging her to step down. "Marie is weak. I need to protect her."

"Alright!" Mr. Boucher says, and I feel my heart fall into my stomach at a speed unknown to man. "Let's get rolling, team!"

I turn back to my mother, who mouths the words 'don't fight him' and I nod quickly, my eyes wide. I walk beside Seon-hyang, who looks up at me with a curious face.

"Why did you say you wanted to go?" I ask in a low voice. Frustration causes my voice to shake. "You know if he recognizes you, he could get you deported!"

"I know, I know, but what if you get recognized?" she exclaims lowly, and I frown. "What if he seriously hurts you? I'd never forgive myself!"

"Seon-hyang…" I sigh, near tears. "Please."

"I'm not going to go back."

I sigh out of my nose, and close my eyes, forcing angry tears back.

"Okay," I say softly, and Seon-hyang grips my hand tightly. "Just promise me that you'll wear my sunglasses in there, so he doesn't recognize you."

She nods, and I smile weakly at her. Seon-hyang smiles back.

Thankfully, we take a car to the US embassy, which gives this more of an official air, like we're some sort of task force instead of a diplomat, his daughter, some Canadian girl, and a North Korean defector. I let Jessica out in attempt to calm my nerves, and for the majority of the car ride, I watch her play with Irene with a thin smile on my face. When the car stops, I reluctantly step out of the car, Irene in tow, while Seon-hyang carries Jessica. She's wearing my pair of aviators, and I feel a smile grow across my lips.

"You look like a movie star," I smile, and Seon-hyang poses the best she can with Jessica in her arms, a smile on her face.

As we walk down the path of the US embassy, Mr. Boucher turns towards Seon-hyang and grins.

"What's up with the sunglasses?" he laughs. "It's overcast."

"I am a cool bodyguard," Seon-hyang smiles, crossing her arms. Jessica imitates her, toddling beside her. "Like in the movies."

All four of us burst into howls of laughter, and I wrap an arm around Seon-hyang and stare at her adoringly as Mr. Boucher rings the intercom, and the door screeches open. Our mood falls as we walk in, and I can see through the funny looking glass panels in the front of the massive complex that there is some sort of argument occurring inside.

When I step in, the first thing I notice is an embassy staff member, an older man with gray hair and a dark mustache, standing with a pensive look on his face as the North Korean diplomat screams in his face.

Yeong-mi's father is a thin, withering man, but I still feel a powerful presence, like he can attack physically at any moment and _win._ He wasn't wearing a military uniform (which is honestly what I expected), but a similar suit to Mr. Boucher, except navy blue. As we walk in, the man looks up, a sneer on his face.

"Mister Lee," Mr. Boucher says, his voice soaking in saccharine sympathy. Rosine begins to translate her father's words. "We need to stop meeting like this."

"You again," he sniffs, walking towards us. I feel the familiar scream of 'run run run run run' push up against my skull, and my legs tingle. Irene glares at him as he walks closer, and I hear Jessica emit a low growl.

"Yes, me." the Canadian diplomat smiles. "Mr. Lee, let's try to solve this civilly, and without involving embassy security."

Rosine looks over at me pleadingly, and I shakily translate for her father. Mr. Lee looks over at me in disgust, the sneer now turning towards me.

"There is no time for this so-called 'civility'," he says in a low tone, that frankly frightens the shit out of me. "When a human life is at risk."

An irrational part of me wants to start screaming 'you guys threaten human life every other week', but I swallow it, and translate what he says into English.

"Mr. Lee, we've been over this," Mr. Boucher sighs, a smile still across his face. "The embassy is not holding your daughter. There is absolutely no evidence that she's in China right now, or even went here!"

"How would you know?" he sneers, leering forward to the diplomat. "You're one of those jackals, unable to be trusted."

He turns to me and stares, and I seriously feel like running the hell out of there.

"I know you," he smiles cryptically, and I almost hurl onto my boots. "You're that half-breed mongrel that's always on the TV here."

"You could say that," I say shortly, between grit teeth. My mother's shaking head is in my mind, trying to hold me back.

"I thought you fought pokemon to the death," Mr. Lee smiles mockingly, stepping towards me. "Now you're an interpreter, huh? You're the jackals little running dog!"

The image of my mother disappears in a flash of red smoke. Thankfully, Seon-hyang steps in before I can say anything that I regret.

"Step away from her," she says bluntly, in English. Her hands are on her hips. "You are making her unhappy."

Yeong-mi's father looks at her with a sarcastic smile on his face, places a hand on her chest, and pushes her back. Seon-hyang stumbles, and I wrap my arms around her to catch her as Jessica screams at an ear-shattering level.

Normally, I would be upset, but I'm thankful she screamed because I can see embassy security look up at over towards us.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" I bark, trying to steady Seon-hyang, who weakly stands up. "We're just trying to help, but you won't fucking take it!"

"If you really wanted to help," Mr. Lee hisses. "You'd tell me where my daughter is."

I grit my teeth in silence, glaring at him.

"Listen up," Mr. Lee shouts, as embassy security walks towards him. "If none of you tell us where my daughter is, I promise that there will be a hundred years worth of revenge against everyone who hid her away from me. I don't care what kind of jackal you are, 'Canadian' or 'American', I won't discriminate ag-"

Two burly security guards clap their hands onto Mr. Lee's shoulders, dragging him towards the exit. He keeps screaming as he's lead out of the building:

"American jackals have always been incapable of rational thought, but I should've known that you Canadian jackals are the same! And if you cannot think rationally, the only way to deal with you is destruction!"

At the end of that sentence, he's taken out of the room, and the white door slams behind him. I hear one of the staff members letting out a sigh, but my eyes are stuck on the door, staring at it aimlessly.

I feel dread and fear of the unknown churn in my stomach, and 'look what you've caused' is all I can think.

* * *

 **historical notes:**

 **The songs Marie sang: Crush by 2NE1, and then Abracadabra by Brown Eyed Girls.**

* * *

 **anyways, as of yesterday, this fic is now one year old! snowstorm is probably my longest ongoing series (against the current is older but on hiatus until i finally rewrite it). thanks to everyone who has viewed and reviewed my story so far, and i hope for another years worth of content to give to everyone!**

* * *

 **marie's pokemon:**

 **varaha - m - pignite, nina - f - nidorina, jessica - f - clefairy, yifei - f - pangoro, irene - f - bounsweet**

 **joon-ho's pokemon:**

 **ggwek-ggwek - m - magby, unnamed - m -scraggy**

 **yeong-mi's pokemon:**

 **unnamed - f - formantis**

 **seon-hyang's pokemon:**

 **egg -unknown - unknown**


	18. PSA about the future of this fic

hey guys might as well say it. i've been really busy lately with college bs, and i've kinda been so wiped i rarely write, and unfortunately, that means that i haven't been writing snowstorm as much as i wanted to.

reading over the fic as a whole i've decided that im going to rewrite a good portion of it because a lot of its problems come from issues that i've overcome as a writer now.

i still want to tell marie's story, and i'll keep this one up for posterity's sake, so don't worry about not being able to read it. i hope that in my next version i can continue to impress my fans :)

see you all :)


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